This I Believe

· I believe in forgiveness, and that if you love your friends and family, you should be able to easily forgive them for their mistakes.
Sometimes things happen and you feel as if there is no way you could ever forgive them. Sometimes people hurt you in a way that you are unable to just forgive and forget. It doesn’t have to be physical pain, sometimes verbal abuse is worse than actual abuse.

When I was a little girl, my family and friends treated me like I was nothing. They constantly talked down to me and sometimes made me feel like there was nothing left to live for. My friends didn’t love me for who I was, and they treated me like I was nothing. I didn’t want to look them in the face still being the same person I am. My family used to tell me how stupid and useless I was. I didn’t want to sit at the table and just act as if nothing had happened. How could I look someone in the eye and act as if nothing had happened after they made me feel worthless? When they said things like that, I really did feel worthless and began to not care anymore. That’s exactly what I did! I didn’t care if I was eating, throwing up, or sleeping. Nothing mattered to me and when I stopped caring about myself, I got really sick. I had appendicitis.

When my friends found out that I was in the hospital, they started to come over to say “Hi” and they were being really nice to me. I remember one of my friends Yesid, came to my house with this huge sunflower and he said, “I’ll give you my sun if you can stop being sick.” At that moment I just start laughing and I gave him a big hug. Afterwards, my family came over and they were so nice to me. They gave me food, flowers, and everything that I could possibly imagine. My dad kept asking me, “Do you need something? Do you need to go to the bathroom? Are you hungry?” He didn’t leave me alone for two seconds but it didn’t bother me, I thought it was really nice.

It was a really big change! I was really impressed to see that the people that had been so nasty with me, were now being so nice and showing me that they do in fact care about me. This change made me realize how important it is to forgive. I needed to take an extra step and forgive myself first though. I
had been so selfish and thought that nothing was my fault when in fact everything was my fault. Not only did I learn to forgive others but I also learned to forgive myself for all of my mistakes. I realize that it wasn’t right the way my friends and family were treating me, but that I had to take the initiative and let go of the past. If I hadn’t taken that first step, I don’t think I would be as happy as I am today.

I always say God knows when it’s the right time and if you get a second chance, take it! If you aren’t able to forgive others, you won’t be able to forgive yourself. I believe this to be true no matter what the situation. I have forgiven all the people that hurt me before and I have given them all a second chance.
It really helped me feel better and I realized what comes around goes around. This time it was my turn, but you never know when it’s going to be your turn or someone else’s for that matter. Making the right choices and forgiving others can make you one of the happiest people in the world. That’s how I’m feeling right now, blissful.

I can even promise you that if at this moment you’re feeling like you’re worthless, just let it go because you’re not. No matter what someone has said to you, just forget about it so you can understand just how amazing I feel.