Everyone has made some type of mistake in their life, whether large or small, where they wish they could undo the wrong they did towards someone. Forgiveness is hard but in crucial to all of our lives. The worst feeling in the world is when you make a mistake and feel genuinely sorry, but the person doesn’t forgive you. It is baffling to me that some people just don’t forgive people. It can make all the difference and so many people don’t understand that.

Middle school was some of the hardest years of my life so far when it came to friendships and I really believe it was because some people were mature enough to know how to actually forgive and others were stubborn. I used to be in a friend group and one of the girls I found myself giving chance after chance and she never learned from her mistakes. I forgave her over and over but in the end she still acted the same. While going through some of these rough patches one of her friends reached out to me. Her friend apologized to me for something she had done a couple of weeks earlier. I found myself not only saying “I forgive you” but I actually felt it. It felt like I had just taken a huge breath in and it had felt so good to just let go and forgive her. I was mad when it had happened but when she said sorry, I could tell she meant it and I couldn’t have been happier.

It is such a simple easy thing to say that you forgive someone, but it does really help in the long run. If I wouldn’t have forgiven the girl for what she had done, it would have made life so much harder. She is still my friend to this day and I cannot believe that I was just going to throw away a friendship over something so juvenile. One phrase could have changed my entire life. If I would have never forgave her my life would be completely different, I wouldn’t know the people I know and I know I wouldn’t be the person I am today without her. So the next time you are apologized to, just know that forgiveness is hard but truly worth it in the end.

-Nicole P.