Gentle Black Man Forgives
This sunny morning a friend whom I love who happens to be Black sent me a video about a white police officer who plants drugs on a Black man and as a result he ends up sentenced to four years in prison. Eventually it was uncovered that the cop had been falsely accusing other men of color, to which he confessed doing. The gentle man was released from prison and as life would have it ends up at a job where he is working with the former cop. The cop apologizes to the man and not only did he forgive him he befriends him. In the video the cop stated that they are now good friends and that the other day the man he accused told him he loved him and that this left him in tears. When the man of color was asked: "Did you fogive him for yourself or him? His answer stunned the reporter when he stated: "I fogave him for both of us, all of us" (referring to all of humanity).
The words of this man truly inspired me and as some of you know I am currently on my own forgiveness journey around my own judgements of myself and most of all of others I deemed at one tie victimized me or betrayed me. What I believe is that almost everyone without exception is in need of healing around forgiving others and themselves. Forgiveness requires that we leave the past behind us and the people who hurt us. It doesn't mean that we have to accept people who have betrayed us but that we forgive them and are sincerely not holding any bad karma towards them or around the past incidents. I for one am very proud to say that I am imperfect. I am flawed like everyone else and I have been mistreated by a few people in my life including my own father who abandoned me and my siblings at a very young age. I for one will be the first to admit that I still have a lot of forgiving to do inside of my own heart about the things I did not do quite the way I would have liked to or the things I have done that hurt others. Part of the self-loving act of forgiving myself is doing what is in my highest good today and now. My journey is really not that rare or different and in fact is one that I may be taking my entire life.
When you forgive others it must be for you and possibly for mankind. The world would surely be a better place if all of us forgave everyone who we need to forgive. We can live a better life with more joy if we decide to forgive everyone for everything. What we must understand is that what others have done has been out of their own pain and they likely cannot control it as we think. Many of the people we will encounter are what I refer to as unhealed and do not want to be healed. For some their behavior is only a result of how much self-hate lives inside of them. Imagine living with that kind of darkness? Forgiving them and forgiving yourself is really the only way to continue your joyful journey.
Today I will continue my own self-loving forgiving journey. I would advocate that we all take that journey and know that by doing so we make the world a better place. A place where love and compassion heals the world.
Elliott Maximo Collazo
The words of this man truly inspired me and as some of you know I am currently on my own forgiveness journey around my own judgements of myself and most of all of others I deemed at one tie victimized me or betrayed me. What I believe is that almost everyone without exception is in need of healing around forgiving others and themselves. Forgiveness requires that we leave the past behind us and the people who hurt us. It doesn't mean that we have to accept people who have betrayed us but that we forgive them and are sincerely not holding any bad karma towards them or around the past incidents. I for one am very proud to say that I am imperfect. I am flawed like everyone else and I have been mistreated by a few people in my life including my own father who abandoned me and my siblings at a very young age. I for one will be the first to admit that I still have a lot of forgiving to do inside of my own heart about the things I did not do quite the way I would have liked to or the things I have done that hurt others. Part of the self-loving act of forgiving myself is doing what is in my highest good today and now. My journey is really not that rare or different and in fact is one that I may be taking my entire life.
When you forgive others it must be for you and possibly for mankind. The world would surely be a better place if all of us forgave everyone who we need to forgive. We can live a better life with more joy if we decide to forgive everyone for everything. What we must understand is that what others have done has been out of their own pain and they likely cannot control it as we think. Many of the people we will encounter are what I refer to as unhealed and do not want to be healed. For some their behavior is only a result of how much self-hate lives inside of them. Imagine living with that kind of darkness? Forgiving them and forgiving yourself is really the only way to continue your joyful journey.
Today I will continue my own self-loving forgiving journey. I would advocate that we all take that journey and know that by doing so we make the world a better place. A place where love and compassion heals the world.
Elliott Maximo Collazo
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