We walk down the hallways every day with other kids who once hurt our feelings and we scroll through Instagram liking posts of boys or girls who broke our hearts. Their words and actions are carried on our shoulders. And with every tear we promised to never let them back into our lives, but when we do, our friends ask why we gave that person a second chance.

We simply shrug and say, “They deserved it, I guess.” Yes, everyone deserves a second chance, but each time that person mutters a single word or moves toward us, we flinch. We become accustomed when the second chance turns to a third and the third turns to the tenth, and then we turn our cheek.

And as we turn our cheek, suddenly time moves on and, yes, so do we. We move on. It’s great and we are happy(ish). But we always think back to the time they hurt us when we brush shoulders with them in the hallways. We harbor subtle feelings leftover from the past. Their words hurt less, but it was their intentions behind the words that bother us still. There is a bitterness that begins to fester inside of us that we try to remove. We find ourselves avoiding the hallways or scrolling quickly past their posts on social media. Whenever people bring them up in conversation, we talk about them like they talked about us; we are quick to talk badly about them. We “move on,” carrying unforgiveness.

To truly move on we must completely forgive the people who have done us wrong. No matter how big or how small their words or actions were we must forgive them. Whether we believe they deserve it or not. Whether they believe they deserve it or not. They need to be forgiven even if they have no idea how they hurt us. If they ask for forgiveness or not. We must forgive, forget and move on.

Hurt is a part of living. Forgiveness is a gift. It sets us free from our hurt feelings.

Forgive them.