PARDON ME, BUT .............

When you Pardon someone,
It's an act of arrogance and control -- lightyears away from Forgiveness.

Forgiving is LETTING GO
Pardoning is HANGING ON. A connection of obligation remains. There's an element of control ("Do it again and I'll bust your balls!")

Do you want to be free?

Then STOP.......stop........stop...........
Just...........let.........go.

When Forgivness happens (and it's often an act of grace) baggage is dropped forever. The one most blessed is the Forgiver.

Two celibate monks were travelling from one village to another. They came across a swift stream, where there was a woman waiting on the bank, fearful of the depth and the current. She begged the monks to carry her across.
The elder of the two picked her up, and the three made their way safely to the other side, where the woman thanked them profusely and went her separate way.
For the next mile the two monks travelled in silence, but the youger monk was in turmoil. Finally he could contain himself no longer. "You should not have done that," he railed upon the elder monk. "We are celibates. We are forbidden from touching women. You have been tainted. The abbott will be furious when he finds out!"
The elder monk turned to his companion and replied calmly, "She asked for a lift. I gave her a lift, and put her down a mile back. How come you're still carrying her?"

Forgiveness is not an occasional act: it is a permanent way of being in this world.