Last week I ran over my neighbor’s mailbox. It wasn’t the average mailbox and I knew it was going to cost me. It would have been easy to drive on and no one would have known that I broke it right off of it’s post. It happened so quickly. I was even surprised! No one saw it as it’s on an isolated country road and Jean (my car) showed no marks from the crash.
But the voice in my head (my Mother) said ” I know you’re not going to just drive off!” And so I didn’t. With pad and pen in hand, I got out and jotted a note, “Sorry”, leaving my name and number.
The next day, the broken mail box was positioned up enough to get mail but by that time, I had received a text indicating the new box was ordered and would cost me a whopping $69.99 plus tax. Ouch!
In talking to the neighbor, and after having a couple of laughs explaining my complete poor driving skills on this day, I appreciated her willingness to let me pay for the box and move on. That’s really all I could do. There was nothing else I could have done. The mailbox was damaged. It could not have been wished, beaten or bent back to it’s original shape but my being allowed to pay for another and make it right allowed me to go forward.
My apology was sincere. My actions to right the wrong were accepted and from then, all was well in the neighborhood.
Who do you need to forgive? Do it. Life is simply too short to hold people hostage to mistakes that cannot be changed. Forgive them and move on.
