Forgiveness
Hello, my name is Taylor. I’m 15 years old and am currently a student at Turning Winds Academic Institute. I have been here for just about seven months.
This virtue is personal for me because of the mistakes I have made, and the mistakes that have been made in my family. I personally, have done some things to myself and my family that are hard for me to forgive. I am working on letting go and learning from my mistakes so I know and am cautious not to make them again. I would not like to go into my experiences because they are still painful for me but I can give you the overall idea.
At home, I was not being the girl I knew I could be. I had gotten into drugs, self mutilation, lying, stealing, and had lost my family. Because of my drug use, I pulled my younger brother into it and he began to deal. I put myself in a hospital bed because of the things I was doing and deeply hurt my family. In the end, my mother couldn’t take it any longer and decided to make the decision to send me here. At first I hated my mom. I thought she hated me and didn’t want me anymore and wanted to get rid of me. I thought she was trying to force me to let go of the only things that really made me, me. Around my fourth month I realized, my mom wasn’t trying to break me down and hurt me, she was trying to help me. Being here, I know that Turning Winds has saved my life. There is something I remember my mom said to me on a phone call around my third or fourth month, she said, “Taylor, sending you to Turning Winds was one of the hardest and easiest choices I’ve ever made. It was the hardest because I was letting you go for a year. It was the easiest because I was scared, that if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have you in a year.” When she said this, I understood the depth to which I had hurt my family.
Forgiveness has been a long process for me. I’ve had to find it in myself to forgive myself for the things I did and the pain I caused. I’ve had to forgive my father for the pain he has caused. After a while, I realized, it’s much easier to forgive others than to forgive yourself.
True forgiveness to me, does not mean forgetting, moving past, or even letting go of an offense. It is about learning from it and realizing you have made a mistake. Though it is still something that I am working on, I greatly encourage others to practice this virtue. Forgiveness can lift a burden on the heart and can open your eyes to new things.
Thank you for your time. I hope I may have enlightened for you the eyes of a student and the dreams and hopes we have. I hope to go far and I’d like to thank you for giving me the chance to. Turning Winds Academic Institute's staff and program have saved my life and are helping me accomplish all that I know I can, and will.
