War Cry- By Susan Thomas

Anger, an all consuming emotion.
Many hold tight to it as if it were gold.
Holding it tight,
letting the anger twist and contort their heart.
Fearful that forgiveness,
might inflict a pain that is worse.
Perhaps forgiving will tear them apart.

Believing with conviction,
that forgiveness,
makes unspeakable evils right.
That to forgive,
means to approve the horrid.
Thinking that to forgive a tyrant, like Hitler,
makes the blood he shed,
with his tongue of hate,
somehow justified.

That to forgive means,
forgetting the knife in your back,
forgetting the pain inflicted,
declaring that being a victim is pleasurable.

Oh, how wrong they are.
Forgiveness is a wonderfully selfish thing.
It's refusing to bow down to the past.
Rejecting cruelty and tyranny.
It heals your heart and soul.

To forgive is letting out a war cry.
A cry against the hurt,
against the betrayl.
A cry declaring,
determination to move on.
Stating to the world,
you will be your own master.
Pain is not a road block,
but fuel to keep moving.