Choosing to Forgive

Good morning everyone! Today's quote comes from one of the most thought provoking books I have ever had  the pleasure of reading, "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts. Although it was a struggle to choose just one, it was also incredibly rewarding to be able to go back and read some of the lines and paragraphs that had touched me so deeply. I think it is time for me to re-read this story again! I would highly recommend it to any and all who love to be inspired.
" It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realized, somehow, through the screaming in my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn't sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when its all you have got, that freedom is a universe of possibility. And the choice you make, between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life." Gregory David Roberts - Shantaram

I know that the topic of choices has been somewhat of a running theme as of late, but I think that it is important enough to explore as often as needed so that any who should require the little pieces of wisdom I try to include in these writings has the opportunity to read and understand them in a context that relates to their personal struggles or successes.This topic in particular is about making the choice to forgive. 
Although it may be violent, I love the visual I get reading this passage. A man chained to a wall, being tortured, his body is covered in blood and wounds; a physical representation of the malice of his captors. By all logic, he should feel trapped and helpless, broken and in despair, yet he has discovered a secret power that lay within him. The power to make a choice. I am sure the men torturing him think they have the upper hand in this situation, that he is nothing more to them than a victim of their brutality. I am positive that they believe themselves to be superior in all ways as he is chained to a wall and subjected to their cruelty. However, it is a false illusion. While they do their worst to shatter his body, his mind is finding strength in the freedom of a choice. He refuses to let them harm his soul and so he makes the conscious decision, even through the haze of rage and pain, to forgive them for what they are doing to him. That is an incredibly powerful moment. To be able to forgive someone of something so heinous is liberating in a way that simply removing the chains that bind him can never compare to. He has freed his very being by not allowing his core to become stained with the violent and hurtful deeds of others. Had his captors known the power he wielded, I am sure they would have found even more painful ways to try and shatter him. If someone in this position can find it within himself to forgive, then why can't those whose lives have been relatively unblemished do the same, even if it is themselves they have to forgive? What is the purpose in making the choice to stay angry, to continue to allow an act of hurt to take away from your own happiness? There is no point in holding onto that type of negative energy. It will just eat away at the soul and taint everything good that life has to offer. What's done is done and time cannot be turned back to take a different path. Forgiveness is not easy but it is a freedom unlike any other because we no longer carry the weight of the deed on our shoulders. Make the choice to live your life in happiness, the choice to love and be loved, the choice to grow and change, to be nurtured and influenced by all the beauty that surrounds us. Make the choice to forgive others and to forgive yourself, so that you may live your life to its fullest potential, so that you may be free.
Namaste