You say you want to forgive. Have you?”

Someone will ask that, I’m sure, because I ask myself all the time. How do I answer?

—I could say it’s difficult to forgive someone who hasn’t expressed remorse. I could counter with questions: Why do I need to forgive someone who doesn’t seem to be sorry? What if forgiveness doesn’t need to be the goal? The goal is the wish: peace. Can there be peace without forgiveness? How do you heal when there is an open wound that is being kept open, a scab always being picked until it bleeds again? I could say this is my task: seeking peace, knowing the wound may never fully close—

“Forgiveness is complicated. To be at peace, I think what I need is acceptance. I accept it.”