Mr.Salsich
1/29/2009
English 9
Anna Holt

Writing Prompt- Discuss a matter you once thought you knew “for sure” but of which you are no longer certain.

Eternal Forgiveness;
A Response to a Prompt


“Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
- Rainer Maria Rilke

Dancing across the sand in bare feet, (Participial Phrase, Opener) the floral patterns of my Land’s End dress spinning alongside me, I was endlessly tolerant. My sympathy was that of an angel, my mind untainted (FAST) by stories of cruelty. This was the time when I would have found good in anyone’s actions, no matter how corrupt. There was no excuse for blames or censure. I was the epitome of forgiveness.

Today, I question this eternal clemency I once believed in so fervently (FAST). I think of the Holocaust, hate towering over love as the sounds of death escaped from Nazi gas chambers. I think of an abused wife, tears and mascara streaming down her face and across her broken heart. (Participial Phrase, Closer) Perhaps there are some things that can’t be justified. Society would agree. According to Time Magazine, 47 people were put to death in 2007 as a penalty for their crimes. The government can seem merciless, but what would our country be without these laws of justice? In a time marked by terrorism and violence, perhaps my endless river of forgiveness is a youthful way of looking at the world.

My opinion about unconditional forgiveness has become a battle between heart and mind. My head uses logic. When people make harmful mistakes, they should not be continually excused. When a human consciously hurts another, there is no moral excuse for his or her actions. The answer seems clear when I look at it this way. There is good and bad in the world, and we must maintain justice to achieve peace. However, this logic is not enough to drown out the more sympathetic opinions of my heart. A part of me, deeper than my mind, argues that we are each small pieces of a bigger picture. We must let go of the mistakes of those around us. Each of us has good and bad, and perhaps forgiveness of the darker sides is the only way to let the light shine through.

As I grow older, I encounter more moral arguments such as this each day. I am slowly discovering that the answers to these questions are not black and white, but rather light and dark shades of grey. Perhaps these shades will become more defined as I continue to experience the things that life has to offer, but for now I am satisfied. Perhaps I will wake up one morning with the answers in my hand, or perhaps there are no answers for such questions. (Purposeful Repetition, "Perhaps") There was a time when I saw the world through rose colored glasses – a world full of mercy. However, I have begun to question the legitimacy (FAST) of certain instances of forgiveness. For now, I will not fret over my hesitant opinions and unsure beliefs. I will remember the words of a wise poet, and "live my way into the answers."