Now Is the Time

I remember the first time someone told me to "Forgive and Forget."  I pondered this for days. Forgiving, I felt I could do, but how could I forget?  

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama said, "Forgiveness doesn’t mean forget what happened…If something is serious and it is necessary to take counter-measures, you have to take counter-measures."  

When our world is filled with hate, we cannot forget. We must remember, in order to prevent the hate, the horror, from happening again. Each time we forget, hate rises its ugly head once more.

However, we can forgive. Nelson Mandela when asked why he was not resentful for his imprisonment said, "Resentment is like a glass of poison that a man drinks; then he sits down and waits for his enemy to die."

When we release resentment, when we forgive, we heal. This healing allows us the energy, the blessings, the grace to move forward in positive ways. We become conduits for positive change because we are no longer weighted down by anger, pain and fear. 

Now, is a time to forgive those whose minds and hearts are filled with hate, who have turned blind to the truth, and who have chosen evil as a tool to hurt others. BUT, we must remember that when we are silent, when we are full of fear, when we fail to call hate for what it is - evil, history repeats the horrors of the past.

May Love light our paths, may we each find forgiveness and may we always remember, in order to bring peace to the world.