Forgiveness is the fragrance

We humans are always on guard, we're too vulnerable to having our pride aroused, ready to become aggressive at the subtlest of perceived offenses. It is as naturally human as playing drums on the steering wheel or peeing in a swimming pool. (Don’t give me that look). You know those times when someone gives you a disapproving honk on the road for some apparent breach of etiquette? You respond by throwing your arms up in the air, as if to say “what!?”. And then the person honks again but longer this time to drive home the point that you are the very thing that is wrong with the world. Naturally you respond by driving five miles-per-hour under the speed limit with their car right on your tail so you can demonstrate how you deal with people who unjustly judge you. Then the person, at the first opportunity, speeds around you and flips you the bird. This is only one example of how one person’s pride, when it collides with another person’s pride, can escalate to a crescendo of comical and dangerous absurdity.

Okay, now lets start over from the beginning, only this time when you pull out in front of that car, you humbly and apologetically wave. Invariably the person who might have been eager to show disapproval now returns your wave with a humble and gracious wave of their own. I guess what I’m saying is, people will almost always return pride with pride and grace with grace. There are very few exceptions to this. Probably the only people who don’t innately adhere to this basic doctrine of human decency are Dallas Cowboy fans and people from Ohio. We are, all of us, eager to forgive because we are all carrying around our own burdensome compendium of human failings. We are quick to forgive because we long to be forgiven. It is good to be humble, but it’s not enough to be gracious to those who are gracious to us. The real trick is to be gracious to the prideful; to be kind and forgiving to those who, on the surface, appear not to deserve it at all.