I'm going to preach this sermon once more, because I find myself in this situation yet again. It looks as if I busted a party or parties in the middle of some cruel rejection game they tried to get going on me. As is the usual these days, it's employees of businesses I patronize on a day to day basis. I'm getting pretty good at this, and like I've said before, recovery from my issues seems to take a progressive route, in that I just get better and better at it. That means these young attractive women I can go on about don't have much of an opportunity to treat me in as shabby or abusive a manner as they would like to do.
Now, should I forgive these people? Right off the bat? I don't think that constitutes genuine forgiveness. Past experiences with these awkward situations tell me that a sudden, unilateral effort to forgive these young, attractive women after these episodes would amount to myself wanting something material in exchange for conferring forgiveness on these women. That something would include love, sex, companionship etc. My experiences tell me that trying to forgive someone in hopes of getting something material in return is not real forgiveness. The behaviors I and the other parties could engage in, and not getting those material things in return for my "forgiveness," just led to more trouble for me.
What do I do instead? I think I will just go about my day to day routines. That would include going about my business at these coffee shops and restaurants and other places. I can go any time I want, no matter which employees work there, because I didn't do anything wrong, and if I just go about my business and don't bother anyone, I think we can all accept that. These women have the right to earn a living just as much as anyone else does. I've had people actually apologize for stuff in the past, and then I would say, "Okay." I think that would make for a more genuine effort at reconciliation over the idea that I just confer forgiveness because I'm such a good guy.
Now, should I forgive these people? Right off the bat? I don't think that constitutes genuine forgiveness. Past experiences with these awkward situations tell me that a sudden, unilateral effort to forgive these young, attractive women after these episodes would amount to myself wanting something material in exchange for conferring forgiveness on these women. That something would include love, sex, companionship etc. My experiences tell me that trying to forgive someone in hopes of getting something material in return is not real forgiveness. The behaviors I and the other parties could engage in, and not getting those material things in return for my "forgiveness," just led to more trouble for me.
What do I do instead? I think I will just go about my day to day routines. That would include going about my business at these coffee shops and restaurants and other places. I can go any time I want, no matter which employees work there, because I didn't do anything wrong, and if I just go about my business and don't bother anyone, I think we can all accept that. These women have the right to earn a living just as much as anyone else does. I've had people actually apologize for stuff in the past, and then I would say, "Okay." I think that would make for a more genuine effort at reconciliation over the idea that I just confer forgiveness because I'm such a good guy.
RSS Feed
