What keeps us from forgiving the people who hurt us is that we have not yet healed the wounds they inflicted. Forgiveness is the gift at the end of the healing process. We find it waiting for us when we reach a point where we stop expecting "them" to pay for what they did or make it up to us in some way. Yet, forgiveness is moving on. It is recognizing that we have better things to do with our life and then doing them.
When I was a baby my heart
was a tiny fish swimming
in a gargantuan sea of things to come.
When I was a toddler my heart
was a trout in a large lake of
thoughts and feelings.
Now my heart is becoming
a salmon ready to go to the sea
of troubles I will have to face.
When I am old my heart
will be a whale swimming
in a sea of memories.
When I die God will become
a whaler.