Forgiveness – Whirligig Intro Assignment

“Move on. It’s a chapter in the past, but don’t close the book, just turn the page.”

Acceptance, forgiveness and moving on; all three are some of the hardest things to do in your life. When something tragic happens, its human nature to try to blame. We can never forgive and move on if we continue to blame others and ourselves for the events in our life. We tend to hold onto what happened, and because we don’t like or don’t agree with the situation, we fault others. We make it their mistakes, because it’s easier on us if someone else is to blame. We blame because we can’t deal with the rush of emotions that come with a tragedy in our life.

I chose the quote above because I think that most people close their book for a period as they are dwelling on previous pages. I like how the quote says to turn the page because that means you should continue your story. You can be sad, but you can’t dwell in the past. You need to accept the facts and move on. This relates to Katy Hutcheson’s video because in her video she doesn’t hesitate, she turns the page of her story and continues with her life. She doesn’t let the death of her husband stop her from living her best possible life. She wants to make sure her kids stay happy and that she doesn’t let the death control them.

In my daily life, I try to practice forgiveness, but sometimes I struggle to move on. I find that within my life, even small things tend to get to me sometimes. I think that as humans, we like to hold onto the little things that happen in our life. We like to overthink and over analyse events, because it hurts us and it is hard to let it go. Most adolescents tend to dwell on the small things such as what people wear, or what people say. When they hear a bad rumour, they tend to hold onto it and let it control their life. These things are so insignificant in the grand scheme of life, yet to us they seem as if they are the only things that matter. Teens now days are so insecure about themselves that they hold onto all the negative things in life instead of the positive, resulting in not forgiving others for the smallest mistakes. The word ‘sorry’ has become something we just tend to throw around.

I think that it is so hard to be the first to admit that you were wrong, or that you hurt someone because you know that you were wrong, yet you still did the action, so guilt overcomes you. You don’t want to look weak to the other person, or because of the fear of giving the other person triumph and power over you. By admitting you were wrong you are showing respect to yourself and to them, but many are embarrassed to admit that. It is also very hard to forgive, because when you know that the other person has wronged you, you place and direct all your emotions towards that person. You find more and more reasons to hate them and your negative emotions all go to that wronging and to that person because you finally have a place to put the emotions. It starts to control your life and the more you let it, the harder it is to forgive.

I believe that restorative justice is an extremely helpful system to have in place. Most victims in a situation tend to think of the person who committed the crime as a monster, as inhuman; they are humans just like us, and this program shows that. It helps with forgiveness and acceptance, because you are working together with someone who was also a part of the situation. In social studies, we learn about World War II, and we are made to hate the Nazis. We don’t think about the fact that they all had families, personal lives and emotions. You can dehumanize someone because of their actions; the Nazis did some terrible things but they were still human. Restorative justice is beneficial for both sides to turn the page on their story.

In conclusion, forgiveness is a necessity in your life. It helps to re-achieve happiness and peace after a tragic event has happened in your life. Before you can move on you must forgive. The more you focus on the positive things in your life, the easier it is to forgive and continue.