Forgiveness, Racquetball and Disney Songs

Forgiveness: [n] the act of excusing a mistake or offense.

Forgiveness is an act of the offended. It is a priceless jewel mined from the offended's heart which is given to the offender. The mining process is often a painful and muddy one. The drilling, and the introspection required is enough to weaken the soul of the offended. The offender must understand that extending forgiveness costs something. In the wake of an offense a price must be paid, it doesn't matter who pays it, but something must be paid by someone. Be it the offender or the offended, or some third or fourth party --- a price must be paid. Atonement == a price. Forgiveness == a price. Even more costly is total forgiveness.

The difference between forgiveness and total forgiveness is the aftermath. After total forgiveness one may still replay the person's offense to friends and family periodically. For example:

Jody cheats on John with her old boyfriend. John finds out and confronts her. Jody admits and repents. After days of pain sorrow, John decides to forgive Jody. Jody is elated she is forgiven and will not have to pay the price of losing John (a sweet and gentle soul). A few days later, Johns meets his friend Jeff. Jeff asks how things are between him and Jody. John admits they've had rough patches. Jeff wants to know the specifics, and John complains that Jody cheated on him. He then goes on to expose Jody's offense to his mother, sister, and one other friend -- even though he has forgiven in some sense. However, he continues to milk some measure of payment from Jody by exposing her shame and guilt to his friends and family. With total forgiveness, John, himself, makes the full payment.

With total forgiveness -- there is no replay of the offense to anyone. The offense is essentially forgotten. If anyone asks, John says: We've had our rough patches, but we're working them out. Then John moves on. This is total forgiveness.

Racquetball: [n] a game played on a handball court with short-handled rackets.

Believe it or not, it's on the racquetball court where I find heaps of inspiration and insight.

Disney Songs: [n] music derived from Disney movies or similar in style to such. Example: Part of Your World from Little Mermaid.

A friend, in re-injecting Winnie-the-Pooh into my world-view, precipitated a Disney binge in me that would rival that of any pre-adolescent girl. It all started with me wanting to hear pooh bear songs. Hence, I typed in "winnie-the-pooh" in Pandora and created a new radio station. Immediately, the radio started with Disney. They went from Beauty and Beast, to Gaston, to Circle of Life to Hakuna Matata, but when they got to this one --- I knew I was gone!

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All these miracles of life, forgiveness, racquetball and Disney songs --- converged in the most unlikely place on Wednesday. The racquetball court of the Cooley Gym.

We sang Disney songs as we played (we normally sing 80s songs), I won of course, while my friend Mauricio showed me what true and total forgiveness is.