Redemption

(Press Play — Begin reading aloud at 14 seconds. Happy Holidays everyone)

What absolution exists after harm is done? The kind you can find in between the pews of your holy house or a clear conscious that has come to understand that our mistakes are respectfully ours, but not ours to carry into the rest of our lives.

It’s when we don’t let go or learn from our pain, that the pain we inflict becomes a toxic trait. Holding onto the energy of past transgressions then lingers in everything we do, thereof becoming inescapable. It’s eating away at us, the guilt, grief, and grievances.

What does that do to a life? Can it be considered a life? When you don’t find peace but instead pressure, what becomes of you? Your mind now lives in a place where the darkest cynicism takes refuge. It is all that’s gone wrong, not right, that takes reign of control.

I use to believe that the right amount of pain and suffering offered needed perspective, now, I think everyone interprets experiences differently. What someone may overcome, someone may fall victim to, but in the end, it’s life, and the best moments are when we rise up from that which weighed us down. And instead of letting it take control, we negate each negative thought with a positive one, until we remember that we are human and with that fact, there will surely be many more mistakes to make but within that journey, there will also be an abundance of joy, where recognized.

Words, music, people; these three things offer immense healing but it’s our decision ultimately to put action behind these offerings. I’m reminded of the album title The World Has Made Me The Man Of My Dreams by Meshell Ndegeocello. When I first heard that title I thought, “We are the solution we’ve been waiting for!” The universe and our ancestors offer us knowledge, divinity but ultimately we choose to see and believe in it. There is no healing without our decision to heal, so there is no light without our willingness to feel it, and no absolution without our willingness to give it — to ourselves and to others.

In this new year, I pray that I forgive myself for my wrongdoings and that others do the same, then can we only move forward into the absolution we seek.

May clarity find you, and grace flow through you.

Love always, Rosina