this line, or variations thereof, goes on to recur 23 more times in the poem, but this is its first outing. however, it was actually first written at the end of january 2024 in the form:

the stress of january can lead to bad decisions:
we all rely on the good souls that forgive us

january is always a stressful month for me. lots going on. not much sunlight. always working at the laptop, dark outside, wallet sore from christmas. all heading towards some nasty deadlines at the end of the month. not much time to think things through. anyway. in the midst of this chaos, someone made a snap decision that i disagreed with.

i thought – we can disagree, but we don’t need to fall out. i didn’t raise it again. it wasn’t my decision to make, and it barely affected me.

and i’m not saying i am the good soul here. my thought was more: i make mistakes, and i don’t think fair people would hold that against me. and further: to forgive is a great thing. we are the products of our circumstances. we all live in two worlds, the mental and the material, and we all have completely different experiences.

i am reminded of the old joke: don’t judge someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes. as then they will be a mile away, and barefoot.

anyway, those who carry grudges are the ones who are most harmed by them, and have the most to gain from forgiveness.