Rest assured, the people who are treating us terribly are doing the same to others, and worse, they are doing it to themselves. That isn’t an excuse, but faith brought me to a place of compassion for all of us caught in that terrible dance.

I must say, speaking from experience, forgiving oneself is extraordinarily healing. 

I am not advocating for sainthood in this writing. I am advocating for a return to focusing on and believing in a basic Good first, before anything else. And if any reader is so inclined, they can call it God.

There’s a reason why trauma survivors (hello, pretty much everyone) have a hard time with forgiveness.