A personal story from Carol Ofori about forgiveness
Carol Ofori shares a personal story about forgiveness with us this Monday...
We all have those stories where we are tested with our sense of humanity and many times it can be said that we come out feeling larger than life or hurt and disappointed. But the thing is that when it comes to forgiveness and letting go, it can be said that it is always better to forgive and move on.
Well, this is Carol Ofori's way of living, and we think it is the best way to move forward and open up your life to new and better prospects. After all, being kind can and will never be a reason to feel like you have failed. It just says what type of person you are and that is after all what we want to encourage. In a world of hate, we need more stories like this.
Read more: Paddling for Kindness
So, down to the story. Carol Ofori shared a story where she received a blast from the past last week. Around a decade ago, Carol was living in Johannesburg in a flat and she noticed a guy who lived below her who had a girlfriend stay over quite often. Let's call this girl 'Rebecca Smith', to protect her identity.
One day Carol was leaving her flat and she found Rebecca sitting on the staircase. So she didn't think anything of it, only to find out later on that day when she returned home, Rebecca was still sitting there. It was late out and Carol decided to ask Rebecca if she was okay. Rebecca said that she was locked out of her boyfriend's place and was waiting for him to come home.
So, Carol being Carol, decided to ask her if she wanted to wait for him at her place. Rebecca accepted her invitation. It was getting late and so Carol encouraged her to check if her boyfriend had returned and after finding out he hadn't, she opened up her home and her spare room to Rebecca.
Read more: Yahto Kraft on being proud and kind
Rebecca stayed the night and some time later Carol received a knock on her door, it was her neighbour, Rebecca's boyfriend. Her neighbour asked her if she had allowed Rebecca to stay over and she said yes. It was then that he revealed that she wasn't a stable person and he had found that she stole Carol's make-up bag.
He then revealed that he had broken up with her because she was unstable and that she was actually stalking him. He then went on to say that he had kicked her out and asked Carol to come with him to go to Hillbrow to get her bag back.
So Carol went with her boyfriend at the time and her neighbour to Hillbrow to get her bag back. At first, Carol just wanted to let it be but her boyfriend at the time said that they should go. When they got there, Rebecca was so horrible to Carol and said such nasty things to her.
Obviously, Carol was taken aback by her attitude, considering that she opened up her home to this woman and she stole from her. It was left there and then last week, Carol received a phone call from an unknown number. Low and behold, it was Rebecca.
Read more: LISTEN: How to truly forgive (and forget)
Rebecca called to apologise to Carol about the way she had treated her, after Carol opened up her home to her and she stole from her and treated her disrespectfully. Imagine 10 years later, she managed to trace her down and apologise.
And to think that on the 7th of July was Global Forgiveness Day. Of course, Carol forgave her and decided to share this story to find out if you have any similar stories to share.
Image Courtesy of Carol Ofori