The trail led to a Roman Catholic church in the neighborhood, where the mother spoke with a nun who had served the parish for many years. The mother asked her questions and the nun answered, but then the nun had a question of her own. The nun's face softened with compassion. The question hung in the air, and then the action shifted to another scene. Forgiveness is an enigma, a paradox, an exercise that never gets easier, no matter how many times we do it.
Forgiveness is the cosmic struggle between good and evil, all inside our own heart.
The odd thing is, there is something in our brains that convinces us that when we forgive, we are letting evil win. Forgiveness demands that we let go of slights and hurts and even deep injustices without insisting on punishment or retribution. It's tough, and in some cases nearly impossible, to allow others off the hook without exacting a pound of flesh. When we are unforgiving, we imagine that we are in control, when in fact the unforgivingness has control of us. And the longer we carry it, the more cumbersome it becomes.