Fighting and Forgiveness

I fight dirty. Ask my siblings and they’ll regale you with stories from my youth where I hit them, yelled at them and was generally pretty mean. Usually I had quite a bit of help, from said siblings, to achieve my angry state, but nonetheless, I wasn’t always nice.One of the best things I’ve learned from marriage is how to forgive and how to ask for forgiveness. I know I still have a mean streak in me, but I try to control it. When I can’t, I walk away from the situation so that I’m not talking to people while in an angry place. Specifically with Wonder Boy.

At first, this act of walking away was confusing to Wonder Boy, who likes to talk through things. I think he gets it now, though. I want to process my feelings on my own first. Then I can talk. If I don’t process things, then the words that come out of my mouth… Well, they don’t necessarily represent anything I really feel and they probably aren’t all that nice.

I’ve come to this point because 1) I don’t want to screw up a good thing and 2) I don’t think hitting Wonder Boy with a hairbrush would be very acceptable. (Refer to those stories from my siblings…)

I recently read The Mill River Redemption, by Darcie Chan, and while I struggled with much of the book (basically, the entire premise and then the conclusion, so…), I do think it offers a good representation of what happens when you don’t forgive someone or when you fight dirty. It was one instance where I was pretty grateful not to relate to anything the characters were experiencing.

This post was inspired by the novel The Mill River Redemption by Darcie Chan, about two estranged sisters who are forced to work together in order to uncover the hidden inheritance by their mother. Join From Left to Write on December 2nd as we discuss The Mill River Redemption and enter to win a copy of the novel. As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.

 

This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.