Forgiveness in the Tea Garden

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. -- Luke 6: 35-36

Sitting at Tea Garden, waiting for a friend, I sit and watch the people sip and suck on bubbles and jellies that slip through over-sized straws. In conversation that would be quiet and subtle if it were not for the blaring  French Jazz setting the tone of the beverage bar. Guys with guys, girls with guys, and girls with girls in singles, pairs, and multiples discuss life, love, and the never ending monotony of living in America. 

All of a sudden an Asian model strides in with her average looking partner. He holds the door open for her as she glides into the room, brushing her hair off her shoulder with each stride. Perfection in bodily form. Her dark eyes are perfect almonds embedded in a delicate porcelain face that sways upon a sculpted body that would be better suited for the cover of Cosmopolitan than Uptown Minneapolis Tea Garden. She's a princess, pristine, and precisely every woman's dream of what to be. 

Then a gentle whisper precedes to place the thought in my brain, "She needs forgiveness." Why this thought occurred, but even more so, why had it never occurred before. This women, despite all her pieces that represent my ideal, is in the end human, and therefore, by nature, imperfect. Perfection collides with reality and I realize, this woman at one point or another has probably really screwed someone over and has needed someone to forgive her. My preconceived ideas of everything I think she is begin to crumble as I realize the humanity with in this being I objectified. 

Likewise, because hurting people hurt people, this woman has also had to learn how to forgive. She has probably been hurt. Little pieces of her heart have been torn out one at a time, even now. As men gawk and see her as sex on a stick as opposed to a heart in a treasure box. She has been raped over and over again in the minds of one man after the other. Forgiveness is a lesson to be learned and one to be accepted. 

She has been hurt and has also hurt. Though I do not know this woman, I have only observed from my comfy leather chain in the corner of a tea shop, I know this woman well. She is human, every inch. Because of this, I know she is depraved, rotten, and hurting. Because of this, I know that she is a violent, hateful thing. Because of this, I know that she needs forgiveness and in return must learn to forgive. 

This is the essence of humanity. We all hurt. We all hate. That is why forgiveness is so essential. Forgiveness is the beginning of love. Jesus charged "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful." -- Luke 6: 35-36

Looking at this woman I think I have gained a glimpse into the reality of humanity. Though perfection is what appears on the outside, and so often I see imperfection inside of me. I know at the core, we are the same, needing love, needing forgiveness. We all need forgiveness.