Forgiveness And Love

Within each religion we definitely often find these two words: forgiveness and love. What would happens when there was no forgiveness and love in these life? That's why God created everything with its pairs and opposites. There is day and night, there is east and west, there is fire and water, there is good and bad, there is hate and love. Life teaches us about all these things one by one with its process. 

My grandfather always taught about goodness. Opinion such as,"We should not see things only from result, but the process inside". Subsequently, at the moment we do honest thing in a process of achieving goals, then we see lot of people do fraud/cheat (and it was considered normal ways by them as normal as they did good things), it may be such thought like,"Why we should do honest thing? If fraud is considered as something normal in the wrong way?". 

Sometimes we might think: "Every time I do good to those who do bad to me--yet there are no good feedback to me--and what for we should repay malicious with goodness?". This sentence may uttered often by people, as they are often hurt by others. But we have to remember, that goodness will always bring peaceful in our mind and heart. Without sense of revenge, jealousy, fear, and bad thoughts. Just forgive and love those who have been hurt us, it is not easy anyway. But, if you want to make peaceful with yourself, then do it. Occasionally, we are too hard to give forgiveness for someone and chose to keep revenge in their heart, most will answer like,"Let time answer it". The matter is who has power over 'time'? God has power over time and we would never be able to reach mystery of time.

That's why, religion teaches us to forgive and to love others. When we have been doing a favor according to religious teachings and values ​​of life, but still there are people who treated us badly, in fact it is like practice for ourselves. Such a body, which, it used to practice every day, it will become stronger and ready to form antibodies to the body itself. Such of biological warning. As well as human soul, if it trained with contradictions in themselves however they still can take wisdom from it, surely, it will be easy for them through life to the future.

I ever wrote in a status, like this: "Pray for those who have done bad things to you, because they are people who actually deserve to be prayed over". Therefore, one of my cousin commented like this, "My mother said, if someone hit you, then you should give them a kick. In order to make him know what it feels like". Okay, I do not blame at this comment. This cousin is my aunt's son (who are taught by different family culture too), so there is nothing wrong. It's just matter of perspective and family education, just that's. It might the sentence I wrote in my status looked like some kind of 'weakness' or 'powerlessness', whatever.

But it must keep in mind too, forgiveness and love is not given to the things that out of limits, such as: insult your religion or insult your family honor. Forgiveness is not given to the things like that, if we give forgiveness for such an insult, it means we justify something wrong. That's what taught by my grandparents. There are so many of us who use term or phrase--popular sentence--without consideration of logical analysis. The phrase that actually makes us have wrong interpret, then influence way of thinking and even change way of act. One of them is "Patience has no limits". Well, umm, will you be patient when someone insults your Lord/God and your parents? Listen this, patience is not matter of has limits or no limits. Because patience is not etape-series as in Formula-1 race. But patience is the media. Patience is container, such as glass or bowl. Just how we measure ourselves then.

So, even though we embed forgiveness and love in ourselves, there remain some limitations, which we should have being assertive, so that people will know when we are upset (by right reason and to right person). That's the values of Javanese puppet. Each person has their way of looking problem. God has given us mind, sense and ability to see the sides life both good and bad impact, of course it depends on how people interpret them.

Regards,

Bening Rahardjo