There was once a boy who had a hard life growing up. He was kicked out of his parents' home when he was a teenager and had to live on the streets. It wasn't his choice to learn about the street life, but it was forced upon him. He had to hustle to survive and make a living. He learned many things that no young person should ever have to learn, but he did what he had to do to survive.
One day, he met someone special, and they both fell in love with each other. She became pregnant with his first son, and she told him that this was a blessing, and he would learn what unconditional love feels like. The little boy was beautiful, with greenish eyes like his father, and he adored his father. His father learned an unconditional love he never knew existed in the world. He became motivated to build a life for his little boy and his new family.
He got a sales job and learned that he was very good at it. He was a talented mover and shaker, and as time went on, he became very successful. He invested the money he made from his sales job to purchase real estate and other businesses. Finally, he purchased a dream home for his family and his little boy.
As time went on, he had more than enough money to support himself and his entire family. But there was one thing he had to do to make everything complete. That was forgiveness. From time to time, he struggled with feeling gratitude, and that was why. So he decided to meditate on how he could forgive his parents for everything that happened.
An answer came to him to forgive himself first. He thought about what that meant and asked himself over and over how he could possibly forgive himself. Then he remembered reading something somewhere about the 4 R's. Responsibility, Remorse, Restoration, and Renewal. He said out loud, "How can I make amends? It hurts so bad!"
After that, something just clicked on why it was so hard to forgive himself. The longer they took to apologize for it, the more he got upset, and the more he internalized it. The only way to get rid of this was to let it go.
An answer came to him, saying, "People make mistakes and are too embarrassed to admit it. Find compassion and let it go. It's hard to admit a major mistake." Tears ran down his face as he declared it and repeated these words in his mind, "People make mistakes all the time. I am letting this go today."
After the meditation, it was like a massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He forgave himself and his parents too. From that day forward, he began to bond with his parents like never before, and his heart was finally happy.
Later in life, he wrote a book on letting resentment go, and he saved up all the proceeds for a trust in his beloved son's name. His son grew up knowing that his father had gone through a hard life and had to learn to forgive himself and others. He learned about compassion, empathy, and unconditional love, and he passed on those lessons to his own children. The boy who once had a hard life grew up to be a kind, loving, and forgiving man who inspired many others.