Forgiveness Case

Forgiveness

Ever since I was little, my father had always told me that forgiveness is given, not asked. So I have always been very reactive when I hurt or offend someone. I can always come out and apologize for what I have done, but never in a way that I am asking someone to forgive me. I know I have been very lucky to have people that forgive when an apology is given. Asking for forgiveness still dose not sit right with me. Normally, this is what I would say: "I am sorry for what I have done, would you accept my apology?" On the other hand, if I am asking for forgiveness: "I am sorry for what I have done, would you forgive me?" I do understand they sound almost the same. But to me, the latter dose not sound as sincere.

After my first deployment with the U.S. Navy, one of my best friends, but we were only normal friends at that time, he had invited me to go to his wedding during the time we were on leave. His wedding was at New Jersey, and my home is in New York City, we were only an hour away from each other. I went to his bachelor's party the night before the wedding, which took place at a stripe club that was perfectly 30 minutes away from both of us. And I had committed to my friend that I will go to his wedding.

The next day, On the morning of his wedding, my then girlfriend called and told me she wanted to go shopping at an outlet at up state new york, which is 3 hours away from where the wedding was going to take place. Not thinking about a thing, I had accepted my girlfriend's request, we were on our way to the outlet. I didn't remember I had a wedding to go to until we had arrived at the outlet. At that time, if I tried to drive back, I would had been very late, but I could had made it. But, that was not what I did. I didn't even called, I texted him, and told him that my mother had gotten sick suddenly and I had to stay with her. And my friend not only believed me, he had also sent flowers to my house for my mother. That had been on my mind ever since, and I not never tried to tell him what I did.

After that, him and I slowly became best friends, and I had become very harsh on people that I have caught lying to me. Actually, I haven't lie to anyone who is close to me ever since that took place. Now that we have known each other for 12 years, and I finally man up and told him the truth. During our conversation, I told him the truth and instead of asking him to accept my apology, I asked him to forgive me. He did, in a way that I didn't even feel it was important for him know. Then he went on to say: "brother, that was it? By the way you were talking, I thought you had cheated on your wife or something. It's ok. We all make stupid mistakes. It is not like we were best friends like we are now at that time." The weight on my shoulders came off, and I had almost tear up. Then we went on to chat about what we did back in the day. I was more than surprised on how he forgave me. And I was shocked on how sincere he thought I was. From this, I learned that when one asks for forgiveness, the worst outcome is the other person says, no. But, if one does not ask for it, one might never be forgiven, or might never know one is forgiven.

When I was in forth grade, a tumor was discovered on my mother's spinal core. Just that, it was a painful enough memory for a 10 years old. At the point, my mother had