The problem is, however, that most of us normal, healthy human beings only have just so much to give. And I for one just plain ran out of veins to self sacrificially crack open a very, very long time ago. Yes, we should all learn how to genuinely forgive with all our hearts, of course, but you don't have to forget. Not if you don't want to become yet another serial victim, that is.
So whatever you do, please remember that you don't owe anyone a pint of blood (real or psychic) today, or any stinking day of the week, month, or year either. Not ever. Unless you truly, genuinely want to donate blood or plasma, of course. But for that, all one really need do is visit their local chapter of the Red Cross, which is of course something altogether different to begin with.
Either way, I do sincerely believe with all my heart and soul that Jesus Christ really did die for the sins of all mankind (and was subsequently resurrected on the third day). And that means for absolutely everyone everywhere, for all time, past, present, and future notwithstanding. So that's why I also do not believe for even a single millisecond that I, or anyone else for that matter, should be preyed upon by any serially abusive person.
Because Christ already did that for us. All of us.
So if you really do fancy yourself a true "Christian," and you've interpreted the Gospels otherwise (that we should forgive and keep on serially suffering for this or that demonic creep in the guise of a "friend," family member, spouse, etc., etc.), well that might actually just be your very own personal problem. Yes, that may just be your very own flawed, perhaps poorly educated misunderstanding of the genuine Word of God.
And maybe, just maybe, you really ought to take a good long look in the mirror at anyone, absolutely anyone, especially yourself, who honestly thinks that Jesus Christ wasn't truly man and God enough to have fixed that particular, pre-Christian era problem (with every last drop of his sacred blood, and terrible, prolonged suffering) so that he could fulfill what had long before been written, so that He could do just exactly as our Heavenly Father planned from the very beginning, and finally, so that He would therefore truly be with us, "even until the end of the age."
So by all means, we really should forgive all those who trespass against us, just as they really ought to in turn forgive our trespasses against them, but you'll never get me to buy into the clearly predatory notion that God actually intended for absolutely any of his beloved children to suffer unnecessarily if any one of us might serve as the instrument of God, and thereby intercede on His behalf. And that includes us interceding for ourselves in time of great need, if need be.
Because isn't that ultimately why we are all planted down here in the humble mud of Planet Earth in the first place? I mean, if we're not here to help each other (and sometimes, perhaps selfishly, help ourselves as well), then what, I humbly ask, are we actually here for? Only for our very own self gratification, and all others be damned? Uh-uh, no. I think... not. Definitely not.
So even though we really shouldn't (under normal circumstances) seek revenge to punish our persecutors, and we don't even have to hold onto all that pain, we certainly must be entitled to a certain degree of self protection.
But sure, when it comes to all that personal pain, sure, if we can, we really should just let it go. Let it all go. Because it was never ours to hold onto to begin with. Which, believe me, I know, speaking from my own personal experience, just like so many others who've also been mistreated by various people throughout the course of their lives, all of the above is always so much easier said than done, isn't it?
But with a little (or even a whole lot of) effort, if we really can find it in our hearts to truly forgive, and then just walk away, having learned a thing or two from the hard lessons we were unfortunately forced to learn from being abused by others, then we really should consider ourselves lucky to have survived the ordeal.
Because now, by embracing the true blessings of forgiveness, we're finally free. Free at last, to treat the next person whom we may someday have the misbegotten opportunity to harm in a much better way than how we ourselves were mistreated by key figures in our past lives.
Because as far as I'm concerned, the true test of any human being is how we choose to wield our own personal power. In other words, if you were just a defenseless little child when some so-called "adult" figure, who may have just been on an all too typically childish tirade, chose to use their temporary power over you to get revenge for something or another that an equally misguided so-called "adult" did to them way back in their own troubled past, then what they deliberately chose to do to you says a whole lot more about them than it does about you. Doesn't it?
Thus, in the final analysis, we are all forced to make all sorts of choices, great and small, throughout the course of our lives. For we all possess varying degrees of personal power to either repeat (and thereby pass on) the Cycle of Abuse, or... we can deliberately choose to put a stop to it all. We can literally and finally say to ourselves, "The buck stops here." So we can finally well and truly take a stand, and not unconscionably simply "pass the buck" onto the next generation. And that particular personal choice, right there, my dear readers, is what ultimately makes one a truly good human. Or not.
