I think we need more stories of forgiveness, because when everyone around us is shouting, "Never forgive them, forgiveness is weakness, forgiveness is ignoring what they've done!" it sounds empowering and sympathetic to us when we're the victims...
Until WE mess up. Until WE hurt someone. And then that same lesson tells US, "You can't ever be forgiven, they SHOULD hate you, forgiving you would mean forgetting what you've done." And I think the end result of that thinking is that we either wallow in our mistakes, unable to ask for forgiveness or learn from it to become a better person - or we vehemently deny that we did anything wrong, because only "evil" people hurt others that badly, and WE can't possibly be evil. And both of those results cause terrible harm to ourselves and those around us.
Forgiveness isn't forgetting - it's letting go of the grudge, it's saying you won't hold this over their heads anymore, it's draining the poison caused by the hurt they caused so you (and they, if they choose to) can move on. Sometimes the person we need to forgive is ourselves (and not in a "I did nothing wrong" way but in a "I will do better going forward" way.)
But many of us don't see that nearly enough, which is why I think we NEED stories that remind us that forgiveness is real, it's healing, it's POSSIBLE (although sometimes we need God's help to truly let go - speaking from experience here) - and that we can receive it when we need it, too.
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