I was angry with him. I was angry to the point I ended our friendship and told him to move on. He called a thousand times, but I neglected his calls. He sent countless messages telling me how sorry he is. He wrote me poems and made sure he sent it to me on a daily basis.
Every morning, I woke up and logged on to my WhatsApp and the first message I saw was his. I simply deleted it without even reading it.
But he was determined to make peace. I just didn’t want peace. I didn’t want to give a second chance to be hurt the way I was.
One day, I logged in to WhatsApp and didn’t see his text as I used to. He had actually crossed my mind that day. I check his last message and discovered he had sent it 3 weeks back. I logged on to Facebook and went to check his profile. He had last logged in 3 weeks ago.
For a moment I was restless. Five years of friendship, and he had never for once gone 2 days without logging in, or trying to contact me.
I hid my number and tried his line just to make sure it was on. But it was switched off.
I could no longer sleep. My thought wandered all night. I kept thinking of him. And that’s when the memories of our beautiful moments together crossed my mind.
I kept trying the number over and over again. I tried it for one full week.
One day, it rang. His sister picked.
She greeted me.
I introduced myself as Chris and told her I wanted to talk with her brother – the owner of the number.
She asked if I was Prince Chris.
I said yes I was.
She told me her brother left me a message, and that was the only reason she was still holding onto the brother’s sim card.
“My brother asked me to beg you to forgive him. He knows that he has wronged you. You are the only person whose name he sang every day, even while at the hospital.”
I immediately asked why her brother was at the hospital.
She told me her brother suffered from ‘Dilated Cardiomyopathy.’
A sickness that affects the heart chambers, thereby making it dilated, and as a result of heart muscle weakness, the heart finds it hard to pump blood properly😲.
“He died 3 weeks ago at General Hospital Wum. A day before he died, he called me and told me everything that happened. He feared he could go to hell for what he had done to you if you do not forgive and let go. He said you have refused to pick up his calls. Even when he called to tell you about his condition. He sent you messages but it was never opened nor read. But he told me, whenever you call, I should tell you he is sorry and beg you to please forgive him. Please, Chris, forgive him, so my brother’s soul shall rest in peace.” She spoke Amidst tears😭.
I hung up the call and cried bitterly😭. I had long forgiven him. I didn’t know why I refused to communicate with him. My heart bled. I picked up my phone and went through the last message he sent to me. It was a poem. A poem about heaven and earth, and how every good friend shall be together in heaven someday. At the end was a message.
“Please forgive me. I want to die knowing that I have made peace with everyone I ever hurt. I have forgiven you too Chris. My heart is clean. Make yours clean too, by forgiving me.”
While I read that message, I pondered about life.
Life is short; very short. One minute you are alive, and the next minute you’ve been wiped off the surface of the earth. Death is uncertain. Whatever you do, ensure you do not leave this world holding a grudge against someone. Every minute should be a moment of forgiveness for one person who has wronged you.
I forgive everyone who has hurt me in the past. I forgive all those who played with my emotions. I forgive all those who took advantage of me. I forgive those who did me wrong in one way or the other. I forgive because I want to have a heart that is light, and not a heavy heart. I want to have a heart that is free from grudges.
Search your heart, call that person you are angry with, and say the words “I forgive you.”
I’m free with everyone but if you think I have not forgiven you, I forgive you all.
👆💗
EBUKA I have forgiven you, may your soul rest in peace 😪😪
• peace is worth making before sunset
• Not all apologies and tears are emotional blackmail, most of them are the last words of the soul.
• read that massage, pick that call and know what is the content even if you choose not to respond.
• life is too short to keep an enemy too long🙌
By PRINCE CHRIS CHINEMEREM
