Once in San Francisco I was waiting for the bus, and a lady in her 60s was sitting there, just smoking a cigarette. She told me she wasn't waiting for the bus but did enjoy sitting there relaxing, watching people and cars go by.
As we talked she told me how she would like to travel about more, but couldn't afford to. Sometimes she would go to Oakland, or even Sacramento, just for the day.
She said that when she was younger she was married to a wonderful husband who had a job and bought them a small but nice house. She didn't have to work. But apparently she strayed and took up with some guy for the thrill of it, but it didn't last. Her husband wouldn't take her back and it seemed like her life took a completely different tack -- and here she was, still regretting the decision she made those many years ago.
Should he have given her another chance and forgiven her? Should she have bounced back anyways and not become a lonely woman who drank too much and spent her idle hours sitting at a bus stop?
I think my opinion is that yes, the husband should have forgiven her, and yes, she should have forgiven herself.
Forgiveness seems to be one of those least-selfish qualities, and one that can turn the course of lives.
