Personal Narrative: I Believe In Forgiveness

This I Believe

I believe in forgiveness. To better myself and to make closure with those who have hurt me in unforgiving ways, I will do what seems impossible; I will forgive. I often wonder what goes through ones head when they make fun of others, what the appeal is in another's sadness. I wonder how one can leave marks on another and seem content with their actions. Even more so, I wonder how it was at all possible to forgive such actions. But I guess I have known that answer my whole life because I've been living it, I just hadn't realized it yet.
I remember a time when I was in eighth grade. I was sitting in my room on the floor doing some homework, headphones on, listening to some jams to keep me focused. I always find it more

comfortable to write sitting on even ground, legs crisscrossed. It wasn't a day any different than the one before and the one before that and the one before that. Now, when I have my headphones on, my volume is all the way up, cranked one hundred percent, and I couldn't hear an atomic bomb if it went off.

My family is a group of proud pranksters and when it comes to each other, we're a ruthless bunch. But that was the day they took it too far. My family, minus myself, were out doing yard work, digging up weeds and pulling out strips of dead grass to replace. Being the notorious pranksters they are, they decided to send my brother in to bring my a surprise. Now, surprise does not always mean some awesome gift and this was one of those surprises. At this point I'm completely absorbed in my work because not an ounce of focus can be taken away while doing math. As I'm writing, I feel something cold, slimy, and wiggling plop onto my left shoulder. I know exactly what has landed on me. A worm. I disgusting, terrible, awful worm. On my bare skin. My pupils dilated and anxiety swelled through my whole body like a raging fire through the woods in a dry summer, instant and engulfing. Fear consumed me and I started screaming and crying all at once. I didn't move a single muscle, I was paralyzed with the knowledge of the creature claiming my shoulder as its own territory. My brother was scared by my

reaction so he grabbed the worm and ran outside to get help. Even though the worm was gone, my actions didn't cease. I couldn't stop myself, there was no self control. My dad burst into my room to calm me down but also became frightened by my actions. I was too far gone to know what he was saying. I could feel the worm crawling underneath my flesh and see its body moving my skin around so I started to scratch it out. I was clawing at my shoulder, trying to rip it out of me. I don't really know what happened after that because I passed out from hyperventilating.
I can tell you that I've never been so angry in my whole entire life that my family thought it would be funny to do that to me.

They knew I was afraid of worms but pulled a stunt like that anyway. It may seem like a silly story. 'A girl who's afraid of worms gets pranked!' I could see the humor in that! If it weren't worms. I hated my family after the events. I truly despised them to the point where I wouldn't have to see them for days at a time. I refused to speak to any of them for three whole weeks. I hardly left my room because I didn't want to be anywhere near

them.
It wasn't till about a month that started to soften up. My family truly felt guilty and sorry. I knew they couldn't have predicted my actions. Heck, I didn't even know that I was going to react the way I did! Who was I to pass judgment on the only people who have cared for me and loved me since the day I was born? I knew they loved me and never wanted to see me hurt or even more, to hurt me. Once I understood that, I knew I had to forgive them. I needed my family and I missed them. Above all, I loved them. Forgiving them put closure to the war, and brought healing to all of us.