"Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast." - Marlene Dietrich
"One forgives to the degree that one loves." - Francois de La Rochefoucauld
If you say that you forgive someone for a past wrong, does that automatically require the forgiven to do penance and re-hash the event? Can you get forgiveness without having to pay a penance? If you are the forgiver are you then entitled to unlimited rehashing of the event in order to completely grant forgiveness? If this is a requirement then is it truly forgiveness? Does this requirement for going over and over the events of the past mean that you are truly not forgiven? Does it indicate that you have not truly come to terms with the past?
It's quite a conundrum. It feels to me like telling someone you are sorry when you don't really mean it. If you say "I have forgiven you" but then make me explain again and again what happened have you truly forgiven me?
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