I love this mural on the side of this building in downtown Brooklyn. I think I love it more so because my favorite pizza spot Not Ray’s Pizza as well as my favorite spot to get red velvet cake are attached to it. I’m not sure that spreading love is the Brooklyn way. All those fights I had and the time I got robbed at gunpoint sure didn’t seem like loving gestures. It was definitely a phrase made popular by one of the best rap songs EVER. By the best rapper EVER “Juicy” by The Notorious B. I. G. as a means to shout out the borough. Spreading love is definitely easy. Anger on the other hand is hard.  
While volunteering at my son’s school the other day. A girl was crying at the lunch table. I went over to investigate as to why she was crying. She explained that one of the boys had hit her on the arm and pointed him out. I went over to the boy and brought him over to her to apologize. After he apologized the next words out of the girls mouth were “I forgive you.” Not thank you or a non-verbal acknowledgement. She said I forgive you. After which she wiped her tears and proceeded to enjoy her murder burger and killer fries while laughing with her friends. I have to admit that I was taken aback. This little lady had the mental capacity to understand that by forgiving she was better off. Why can’t grown folk get this concept?

Being angry takes up too much time and energy. I want you to think about this. The energy it took for her to scrunch up her face, produce the salty tears she shed and to the neurons firing off thinking of why she was angry and producing that emotion. That energy could have been used to do something constructive. The sooner you learn to let stuff go the sooner and more productive you can be. 

You don’t have to work at love. You just do it. You don’t have to work at forgiveness. You just let go. These are things that once you learn their value become things that just are. Yes easier said than done but I challenge you to do it. All of us will get hurt and become angry and that’s fine. It’s natural to get angry but it’s up to you whether you stay there or not. Some of us won’t be as fortunate as this young lady and receive a apology from the person that wronged us. If you are than forgive and let it go. If you don’t than forgive and let it go.