It's a word which commits us to costly action, openness and involvement. Sadly, of course, the easier way is to label them in destructive ways which seem to allow us to ignore them. Perhaps often in the way people pray, too. We need to learn a lot more about what strong forgiveness can achieve and create. So let's see if we can understand how this popular view of forgiveness domesticates and distorts what it involves.
Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Forgiveness is always a 'top-down' action, by people with the power to set others free. Such persons with power may or may not have been wronged personally. But they will be members of a community or society which views the wrongdoer as a wrongdoer. This view may mean criminal conviction or political division. At a personal level finding the power to forgive may involve leading wrongdoer and victim to a reconciliation.