Virtue of forgiveness

Forgiveness is defined a follows.
forgiveness - the act of excusing a mistake or offense

Right from childhood, you are taught to forgive others. Somehow, as we grow up, we tend to forget these values and loose our innocence. After Vipassana, I found a deeper meaning to forgiveness. It taught me, that I as a common man (especially used for those set of people who argue, that they are neither saints nor aspire to be saints, and so have a right not to forgive others), should forgive others, not because its been taught to me, not because it will improve my image amongst my peers, but because, its good for me. Why should I loose the balance of my mind for someone else' mistake? Why should I waste my time planning a senseless revenge or in cursing him which will not serve me any good. As a 'Selfish Rational Being' that Ayn Rand preaches us to be, its in my favour to let go and move on. He may or may not repent for his mistakes , in either case, its not my job to make him a better person, that's his job. Having said all this, a simple incident taught me how hard it actually is to follow

My friend, accidentally split some cough syrup on the floor in my room. I was not present in my room and he left my room after some time without even informing me of the same. When I returned, I felt angry and cursed him. Then I remembered, that I must forgive and move on. So, when I next met him, I said, "I forgive you for what you have done." (felt a bit dramatic - acutally i was trying to induce guilt)"

Now, like any sane person, you might say that this meager incident is certainly not worth mentioning on a blog and rightly so, it isn't. What I intend to convey through this post is what follows,

1. I actually was never able to forgive him. We keep increasing negativity in our minds even about such minor issues.
2. There were random bursts in my mind, where I planned for a revenge.
3. I tried inducing guilt in him, just to hear him say 'Sorry'. I dont know how it would have helped me, but I still wanted to hear it.

This is when I realized the greatness of 3 people.

1. Jesus Christ: He forgave the people who killed him.
2. Mohandas Gandhi: He freed India from the British Empire without violence, but with compassion towards his oppressors. He even managed to induce his great values in millions of his supportes.
3. Nelson Mandela: He forgave the racist 'white' people who imprisoned him for 27 years of his life.

So this one is for all those men in history who taught us the value of forgiveness.