Comment: Happy Christmas to you, too and thank you.

To clarify, if my post was too short:

I don't think you ever have to sacrifice principles in order to forgive. Forgiveness is a principle of its own, and it is one that transcends all others. To forgive doesn't mean that you agree with what happened, or with what was done. It is something separate.

Perhaps my post is short because I'm clumsy at verbalizing it, but it seemed intuitively self evident to me, from the powerful video.

Like I said in the title, forgiveness is the best gift you can give yourself. I remember hearing it said that holding onto hatred, resentment, regret is akin to saying something like, "You wronged me, so I'm going to drink this poison."

Holding onto those emotions does nothing to right the wrong; it does nothing to punish the responsible. It serves only to harm the one holding onto the hatred, anger, resentment, regret, etc. It has nothing to do with sacrificing principles, but to adhere to the principle that "I will not harm myself" or as the father in the video says, "I will not allow the Columbine killers to ruin the rest of my life."

That was a message that his daughter gave him, through that essay. It was not one that, as he admits, he would have come to on his own.

My apologies for not being able to explain that more eloquently.

At any rate, thank you for the feedback, and a Happy Christmas to you as well.

Michael