does love equals forgiveness?
Someone can hurt you and somehow,
you can still love them.
I've always found that strange.
Because part of me thinks love should make forgiveness easier.
If I love you, shouldn't I want to forgive you?
Shouldn't there eventually be a point where I decide that loving you matters more than what you did?
But then I think...
what if you do it again?
And again?
How many times can you forgive someone before forgiveness starts looking a lot like permission?
I don't think love means pretending something didn't hurt.
And I don't think forgiveness means everything has to go back to the way it was.
Maybe I can forgive you and still not trust you.
Maybe I can understand you and still think you were wrong.
Maybe I can love you and decide that loving you from a distance is the only way I know how to do it now.
I think that's the part I used to get confused about.
I thought forgiveness meant giving someone back the version of me they had before.
The same access.
The same trust.
The same relationship.
As if forgiving someone meant nothing was allowed to change.
But something did change.
That's why there was something to forgive in the first place.
So maybe love can ask me to let go of what you owe me
without asking me to forget what it cost.
And maybe forgiveness isn't proof that the hurt wasn't serious.
Maybe it's deciding I don't want to spend the rest of my life collecting payment for it.
I don't know if love always equals forgiveness.
But I wonder if loving someone sometimes means hoping they become better,
even if I'm no longer there to see it.