SAY NO TO FORGIVING
(Lebaran Bits pt.2)I just realised how cheap and trifling forgiveness was. I mean in Indonesia, particularly with the atmosphere of the blessed Idul Fitri lingering on, forgiveness has always been cheap, yet the subtext never really dawns on anyone.
Yes my friend, I'm starting a campaign!
Aren't you tired-to-death of forgiving people? Isn't it curious how they seem to keep making the same mistakes, and then apologise, and then start all over again in a silly cycle where YOU play the kind-hearted fool? Isn't it odd how you play the fool in one cycle yet probably the knaves in others?
Come on now. Admit that there are people that you take less seriously because you know they will always forgive you no matter what mischief you do. Like, you deliberately come late to an appointment and you don't feel sorry. No worries, they're easy. On the contrary, you make a mental grouping of the sort of people who won't take it easy. With them you behave.
What makes the difference? One forgives you easily, the other does not. Yet one thing you probably don't realise yourselves: you (slightly) look down on those whom you can "fool". Using the theses in reverse, I can sum up that if you don't want people to look down on you, then don't let them get away with it easily when they make a mistake.
Gold is valuable because it's rare and scanty. What you can get without efforts will be taken for granted. Think about it. Be hard-hearted. Be mean. Don't forgive those unworthy of forgiveness. Forgiveness (and apologies) should be more sacred, more solemn, more sincere. I'm sick of these people saying sorry in a casual way, without any trace of penitence whatsoever. You know they don't mean it. Yet there is this social pressure to conduct what is proper: to forgive them accordingly. The funny thing is, they know you don't mean it. So the problem is (superficially) solved, both parties are (superficially) happy, hypocrisy ends the story. Man, this gotta stop.
My (tentative) campaign goes something like this:
DO NOT FORGIVE PEOPLE IF THEY DO NOT SEE WHAT THEY DID WRONG.
DO NOT FORGIVE PEOPLE IF THEY ARE NOT TRULY SORRY.
DO NOT FORGIVE PEOPLE IF THEY DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MEND WHAT THEY HAVE CRUSHED.
DO NOT FORGIVE PEOPLE WHO CANNOT APPRECIATE FORGIVENESS.
DO NOT FORGIVE PEOPLE WHO CANNOT LEARN FROM A MISTAKE.
Come on all people! For social reforms, let's crowd the streets!
(The content of this post is, of course, a parody. I apologise if it causes you any inconvenience. And I know you WILL forgive me, coz forgiveness is ALWAYS cheap; yours' no exception. Ha ha.)
posted by eloque @ 9:04 AM
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