I understand forgiveness as an awakening and something other than a nicety because some people say it’s the right thing to do. I have found forgiveness to be a knowing that came as I moved closer to realizing my identity as an eternal soul. There are no inherent shoulds placed on anyone for anything in a neutral universe. Neither can understanding be forced. No one has to forgive, but when I saw what it actually is and does—there simply was no doubt that I would forgive — even if necessarily from a silent distance. I think of forgiveness as the only belief that acts as a bridge with one foot in this world, the other in the next, and the all knowing eternal force of the universal soul rising within you as the thought to build a bridge at all.