I have just received this tweet from someone I follow on Twitter:

To forgive… is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.

Compare these two cases involving murdered sons.

Margaret Mizen is mother of the murdered 15 year old Jimmy. A couple of days after she lost her son, she said:

“I just want to say to the parents of this other boy, I want to say I feel so, so sorry for them. I don’t feel anger, I feel sorry for the parents. We’ve got such lovely memories of Jimmy and they will have such sorrow about their son. I feel for them, I really do.”

I don’t know if I could forgive so quickly, but to do so will lift an extra burden from her. A huge burden.

Compare this to the parents of Jamie Bulger, the three year old murdered in 1993. Last I read about them, they could still not find a shred of forgiveness and consequently were still suffering every day because of it.

So, to reiterate: to forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.