As the ham is being purchased for Sunday dinner and the sights are set upon the completion of spring sports, Wyomingites have started to don short pants and spring windbreakers. It can only mean one thing; it is springtime in Wyoming. 

Wyoming is said to be the land of blonde hair and blue ears, but with the temperature beginning to reside north of the freezing mark, it’s so easy to forgive Mother Nature for what she did to us last winter. After all, she is offering an olive branch and is not turning our breath
to vapor.

Forgiveness. For us in the west, it is no mistake that Easter comes between the seasons. All is forgiven and forgotten. The accidents, the ice storms, the power failures and the other details that winter dumps on us.

And we go forward. To do that, though, there are very two important components they say will lead all of us to a healthier life, family, community and country. It is forgiving and forgetting. Or as they say in New York, “fawgettabowdit.”

That is all well and good on the forgiveness part because as it has been quoted throughout the ages, “not forgiving someone is like drinking bitter poison and waiting for the other person to die.” And, it’s hard to go through life carrying baggage. Nothing can chain you more securely to your past than not forgiving someone who has hurt you or wronged you. Only then can you free yourself from the hurts of those shadows. 

As for the other component to “forget,” we really should be celebrating our memory and using our minds to help us go on into a life that is now and life that is tomorrow. Remembering something is not a bad thing if you remember that you don’t have to live there anymore. Utilizing the past will give us wisdom from the mistakes, mercy for the wounds, and perspective to see how far we’ve come and how quickly the journey passes. 

This is the season to become new. To come forth. To grow. And to enjoy. Life is too short to be slowed down by someone else’s nastiness. We challenge you this spring; each time you see a new plant springing up from the ground, think of someone else you want to release through your own forgiveness and remember that as you release them, you also release yourself.