Dear LPG,

I am writing this message months, in fact nearly a year, before I hope that LPG prints it.  I am writing this in September 2020, when we are all still gripped by Covid-19 and much of the press is about whether we should or should not go out and if we should wear masks, all the celebrations we have missed and what sort of Christmas we can expect, while the national statistics being published with reference to the number of people who are catching the virus are creeping up again day by day.

The initial shock is wearing off and, while I am writing, we are getting used to a new way of life.  Many are missing friends and family members that didn’t make it through, while we are now getting used to television where social distancing dictates that drama has to be filmed with actors at a distance, and in some cases whole audiences, are being presented from the other end of computer monitors. 

The many days we have spent at home has also given us lots of time to be bitter and angry, and anger leads to many other emotions, one of which is often blame. The media has touched on it and some people think that it is the fault of one nation or the other’s attempt to build some sort of weapon of mass destruction which went a bit wrong.  

While all that has been happening I am sure that everyone of us has experienced all the usual, smaller, personal happenings that result in family feuds of all shapes and sizes not to mention the ‘every now and then’ incidences when one or two of our friends are responsible for our feeling of being let down. 

They say that holding a grudge is very bad for your health, while we all know that forgiving those that you blame for hurting you can be equally as bad for the health of your ego.  Another thing that is often said is that time is one of the great healers and, having just missed 2020’s celebration, I have asked LPG to wait ten months until this year’s Global Forgiveness Day before putting this message on their pages.

I would like to suggest that if you are to blame for something, you try to approach the person you have hurt by asking the question of the day which has to be, ‘please forgive me’ ?  If you are the one who needs to forgive, whether it be the effects of the global pandemic that we are still feeling the effects of, or something more personal that is eating into your emotional health, the fact that we have again arrived at this day has to be a reason to make the first steps towards following its sentiments. 

GM, Brockley