The Virtues Series: Episode 3 "Another Way to Think..."

"Do you think she'll still forgive me?" She said, as I scanned her worried eyes wondering what to tell her now.

She had been on and on about this one matter, & it had caused her much unrest.
"Why don't you call her and apologize" I had said earlier.

"I don't even have her phone number, I have no way to contact her and no one to ask...I mean, I barely even know her.." she was on the verge of tears.

"I didnt mean to hurt her like that,...I was...angry & I completely misunderstood her...She must think I'm a terrible person" 

Now she let the tears flow freely...and I wanted to hug her & wipe those tears away & tell her she was forgiven...but instead I found myself lost in my own realm of thoughts...

Seeing my friend feel so bad about something she had done to someone; something she didnt realize while she was doing...made me think of the times I've been hurt by others...what if those times they didn't realize its gravity too? What if they went on feeling so bad afterwards but didn't have the means to apologise? What if it was all a misunderstanding? What if they did it ignorantly?

And here was my poor friend beating herself up over what she's done now, after realizing her mistake...but she was right, the one whom she has offended may never actually get to know...she may well not think so goodly of her and feel justified to do so...
Unless she thought differently...

Truly, there could be so much more to the story when someone wrongs us...so many what ifs we could go through, & it might just be one of them...they could be feeling sorry about it but unable to express it...they could've done what they did in ignorance, it could've been a misunderstanding...but how many times do we actually think about all these?

And though we must not forgive people only when we think they deserve it, for we ought to be generous with our forgiveness and extend it to even those who do not seem to have earned it…but sometimes the aftermath of their actions may still linger in our hearts and we’ll find it hard to forget or think goodly of them unless we can come up with reasons and excuses for them…

“When anyone says or does something that annoys or grieves one, he should try to find excuses for him and recall the status of the righteous who used to think well of their fellows and make excuses for them. They would say, “You should make seventy excuses for your brother.”Ibn Seereen said, “If you come to know that a brother has harmed you with either a word or a deed, you should make an excuse for him; if you did not find one, you should say, ‘There may be an excuse that I do not know of.’”

And so i took my friend's palm in mine, feeling hopeful..."In sha Allaah" I said, more to myself than to her...
...for I had just been reminded of another way to prevent myself from assuming the worst of others…I had just been reminded of another way to  think...