consequences

I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross




Unfortunately too many people make choices that have a negative impact in some body’s life whether it is in the form of an action or words, then when faced with those consequences either ignores, refuse to accept or are oblivious to them. I don’t know if it’s a culture that we have bred or is it something that is innate.

In our society when you break the law, in most cases, you go to jail. When the time is served we are told that those who did the time have “paid their debt to society”. Does the payment of that debt also free that person form any and all consequences? Do we tell the victims of the offense not to live in the past? However, is it right to continue to persecute the offender for their “mistakes”?

There are those occasions when people ask for forgiveness for their actions. Apologies are good, forgiveness is good. The problem is that sometimes an apology, no matter how sincere, isn’t enough. And the offender is confused as to why. They have a false sense that if they have asked for forgiveness they will be cleared of consequence. These apologizes are sometimes an attempt at reconciliation .As Christians we are told to forgive. We are not often told that we don’t have to reconcile.

Nobody is perfect. We are all capable of causing pain. We are not all capable of accepting the consequence. So what are we to do? When we make a choice, one that has a negative impact, we must accept responsibility. We must learn to concede to the victims of our actions. They might not want to accept an apology and that should be their perogative. However wrong it is to torture someone for their mistakes isn’t equally as wrong to expect someone to ignore that they were wronged? Some mistakes do last a life time. The people who make them need to humble themselves and accept what the wronged have deemed necessary for them to continue their lives with as much normalcy as possible.



“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.”

Stephen R.