The Creed by Which I Live By

I've always been able to forgive and forget rather quickly when someone apologizes to me. It is one of my better qualities if not the best quality. This became more true last night than any other time that I can remember.

I was talking on IMs with James. I've been having a bad day, so he decided to send me some Valentines to cheer me up. After some technical malfunctions, I saw the ones he picked out for me. I have to say, they were rather cute. Still, I have this odd feeling that he is breaking several rules of love seeing how he is technically unobtainable.

Eventually, Bill popped on. The reason was because for a while now, my parents have been getting on my ass about getting a summer job. Ideally, I would love it if I could just be a private tour guide to Bill at Walt Disney World. There's just one problem with that. Things happen. Who knows what things are being plotted behind my back! On top of that, Bill can easily go to the parks by himself when he turns legal. That's right, he turns 18 soon. While that would be fun for him, especially exploring the place on his own, both he and I know that I know where some of the cool stuff is that he would like. Nothing has been set in stone, but I will give him a heads up when my summer vacation starts. I'll know when I get my first finals assigned.

Fast forward some more to later in the evening. Dan came on. We had some exchanges of words on IM, but agreed that the phone would be the best way to talk it out. He is the only one of three people there that ever calls me. James, Bill, Leo, even David do not do such things. Anyway, I gave him my cell phone. Reason being I wanted some privacy. Besides, what else am I going to do with those 3000 night and weekend minutes?

The talk in itself was productive. At first, Dan didn't see a reason to apologize. I soon changed his mind. I pointed out several things that I didn't like about him. He took a few of them to heart, namely how little attention he gave me while I was up there. I told him that depending on how much attention he would have given me, I would have been able to cancel out the bad things I didn't like. It's kind of a Ying-Yang thing. When he apologized, I did what I always do. The slate is clean, and I pretty much forgot everything that I ever held against him.

This is how I work. I can forgive and forget rather easily and fast. I can only do that, however, if someone apologizes. I believe in humility. If someone can tell me that they are in the wrong, that they are not perfect, then they are human. Humans where never meant to be perfect, and to recognize one's own flaws is a great characteristic I cannot ignore. Once someone apologizes to me and acknowledges that they are wrong, I immediately forget everything they have ever done. This is how I treat people.

It's a shame that not everyone can act this way.