Here was my hand, given to you years before.

An apology came from my mouth in tandem with this extension, though I’d no prior offering from you.

Acceptable terms were met.  And we carried on as friends.

Until, times became more turbulent.  And conflicts became too volatile, that clashing and thrashing occurred.  Yet “sorry” was not in your vocabulary.  And an apology continued in mine. For more important feelings weigh on my soul, and more frivolous on your own.

The hammer of judgement continued to oppress our interactions. Though I know not from where they emanated, eventually clashes occurred as a result of too much proximity.

And I extended my hand to breach the void.  Which was shook with conditional confidence.  Conditions involving never receiving wrong again.

This expectation was unrealistic.

Its unfair to consistently assume no responsibility.  Its sad to assume no weight when another is crushed.  Its ridiculous to put people at odds with one another, when the option of forgiveness is something you refuse.

How many times, must one extend their hand, before retraction occurs?

When one’s offering is smacked aside, doesn’t ones hand recoil?

When someone never apologizes to you, doesn’t it get old, extending the olive branch?

Lessons have been learned.  One may only extend a hand only so many times, in true conciliatory fashion, or simply as an act of merely maintaining decency between persons.  Yet if the heart of the receiver of these offerings is rotten and ill-bent towards reconcile, then the extended hand of forgiveness is considered struck away.

When these encounters reoccur, one retracts that forgiving offering, and walks casually and confidently, away from the offender, forever.

Humbly yours,

J