The Washington herald., 1921-09-26
REPENTANCE DOES
NOT BLOT OUT SIN,
SAYSDOROTHY DIX
declares Men Spread
Propaganda of Wom-
ans Forgiveness.
by DOROTHY DIX.

~ uo Is 10 say tndI lncy
are sorry for the ofrense they have
committed against US, and forth
with a wet sponge is drawn across
'ne slate, and the score wiped out
against them.
mere could be nothing less true
than this. There is no forgiveness
IN this sense in which they imagine
IT, When We say that we forgive
people who have wronged US we
merely mean that we cherish no
animosity for the evil they have
done US. and will take no vengeance
upon them.
But as for "forgiving and for
getting" as the old phrase goes.
those stultify themselves who ask
Tor such a thing, and those lie who
pretend to do it. What has been
oone' has been done. What has
been, has been The faith that has
tailed us, the greed that has robbed
us. the cruelty that has stabbed US,
are facts that will live in our mem
ory as long as consciousness is
with US.
They are not to be blotted out
oy a few words of repentance or
an eeasily shed teear or two. They
cannot even be atoned for, because
they slew something beautiful
within our hearts that never comes
TO life again. When you can take
the shattered leaves of a rose and
make a bud of them again then
Will love be able to flower in all its
pristine freshness above the grave
In which forgiveness has buried the
onense against it, not before.
It would take a superman or wo-
man to work that miracle. The
balance of US who are merely
groundlings, are incapable of it.
We say we forgive those who tres
pass against us, and we mean that
We cherish no enmity against them,
that we even pity them as poor
weaklings, and crooks who do not
have IL in them to go straight, or
to keep the faith. We may even
go along bearing the same outward
relationship to those who have
wronged us, because sometimes we
can best save a bad situation that
way, or for business, or family
reasons.
And IL we are big enough, after
having condoned the offense, to
cover II up with silence. the sin
ners go blithely along their way.
convinced that our forgiveness has
settled their score, and that they
have regained their old-time place
in our objection.
Men have been particularly active
in spreading this propaganda about
forgiveness so far as women are
been engaged in exploiting the
beauty of woman's forgiveness, and
cuItivating a belief in its mex
haustible quantity. Innumerable
stories have been written in which
the lovly heroine waited to well
come back to her arms the hus-
band who had beaten her, and de-
serted her and left her ito starve'
while he philandered off with an
other woman. but who. returned TO
her to have her support him ana
nurse him in his old age.
In practically all man-made liter
ature woman is represented as real
" enjoying working her forgiven
over time, and actually preferrtng
a husband, who is forever on she
repentance seat to a decent man
who behaves himself.
have often wondered IL men
really have this childlike faith in
wcman's power to forgive. and II
they thought, because Their wives
do not rush off to the divorce court.
that their offense is blotted out,
and they have their old place In the
vonen's hearts. A woman may
technically forgive her husband Tor
his faithlessness to her. She may
pocket the insult he has offered
her and swallow her pride for the
sake of her children. or because
sha doesn't want to break up her
home or forfeit her social posi-
tJon She may go along camoufag-
Jnr content so we'll that she even
deceIyes the man himself, but she
herself knows what a mockery her
Torpiyeness is. She knows the bit
+sr1ess of her soul. She knows THAI
tba glory and the circling wings
have gone from her love, and that
neyarmore can she look up to, or re-
snect or trust the man who has
once betrayed her.
one of the reasons that high-tem-
pered people make so little etfort
20 control themselves Is because
tbsv also believe in this CHEEKY
theory that they can enjoy them
selves by indulGing in their RACES,
and then make 1t all right, ana
bring matters back to their for
ner status, by saying that they
are sorry for what they said.
rs a nice, comfortable theory, be-
.Ausa apologies are cneap. and Ir
r,ust be an exhilarating experience
20 toll people just what you think
~ Them when they annoy you.
The only difficulty with the
theory Is that those who depend
mon being forgiven lean upon
= broken reed. Nobody ever really
forgives the hurt to his vanity.
Or the fatal home truth that
friend. or near relative hurls at
Them in the heat of anger.
II Is those who live closest to US
rho know our weak spots best, and
where they can strike with dead
Iiest aim. No stranger can hurt
us as they can, and when they drag
no the light some defect that we
thought hidden; when they remind
=. N some failure that rankles:
80 they shout aloud the thing
raj we would rather die than hear
thsv deal US q wound that never
ThI, is why family spats are so
-,rcb 10 be deplored. People think
a, them as trifles and regard as
',,inportant the little flareup Of
sa,,ner in which a husband will say
hard and cutting things to his wife,
a,d the wife will retaliate with