English, baby!

Forgive Me

Date: Aug 29 2006

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

They lied to you. He betrayed you. She broke your heart. Friends, relatives, lovers: eventually someone is going to hurt you, whether they intend to or not. It’s just part of life, part of relationships.

Most people feel angry when they have been wronged. We usually want an apology. We don’t always get one.

But in order to really move forward with your life, you have to forgive those who hurt you. It can be a very difficult thing to do.

Listen to Toby and Kevin talk about the power of forgiving.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Toby

Kevin

Toby: Have you read the Kite Runner?

Kevin: No, but my mother has recommended it to me.

Toby: It’s, it’s excellent…

Kevin: I’ve heard it’s wonderful.

Toby: ...on many levels. And one, one of the, kind of, interesting themes in it is forgiveness.

Kevin: When you don’t move on, it’s just, um, I mean, I’ve, at, at times, I’ve struggled to forgive people. But it’s amazing when, I mean, when you truly do it and, and when you vocalize that forgiveness, it’s just this amazing sense of freedom, you know, um…

Toby: Yeah. Well, the amazing thing about not forgiving somebody is that you end up hurting yourself more than you hurt them because whatever it is, it’s like, they did it, they hurt you, maybe they’re sorry, maybe not, but you’re holding onto it and it, it just, it haunts you.

Kevin: Yes.

Toby: And it, it can, you know… it’s like, if you’re still mad at your ex-boyfriend, how are you gonna move on to your next boyfriend ‘cause you’re still pissed!

Kevin: Exactly. And there’s, there’s, there’s also a real power in forgiving. Like, if you don’t forgive, then he or she has the power, so it’s also you taking your stance as a powerful human being and forgive ‘em.

Toby: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think when you, when you forgive, you have to have compassion in order to forgive somebody. You have to, like, realize that, yep, maybe they did wrong, but they were doing their best ‘cause we’re all human and we’re all fallible.

Kevin: And we’ve all done wrong.

Toby: We’ve all done wrong. We have to forgive ourselves too.

Kevin: That’s right.

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Discussion

Toby has been thinking about forgiveness since she read the Kite Runner. She has realized that not forgiving hurts you more than it hurts the other person. She also recognizes that compassion is an essential component of forgiveness.

Kevin says that truly forgiving a person is powerful and freeing.

What do you do when you get hurt? Do you need to forgive somebody?

Comments

sherryleio

China

Forgive someone who hurts you? well if the hurt is not a big thing, I will. But if it hurts me so bad, I will just walk away and not have him/her to be part of my life. I do not hold on a grudge either. It’s like I’ve never known them, that’s it. Sure, if they do appologize, I may let it go, depending the case. If they do not feel sorry, then why I say “I forgive you”, but it does not mean that they still have power on me, NOT AT ALL…Gone with the wind, everything!

i love life

Palestinian Territory, Occupied

when i do any mistaken with any one i always confess and i do not hesitate in apologize to other because this is to express about a real life why we not confess when do mistaken with others we are human being just god know what will happened tomorrow the life very easy

kareena kapor

Saudi Arabia

yha thats right forgiveness need compassion and mercy

if the person who lied on u or did anything wrong u love him_her so much i think u will give this person chance and trying to forgive him or her

jessica03402507

China

just make yourself feel comfortbal ,may a long with the time,you can forge some unhappy memory

sweet10hearts

Philippines

We all do make mistakes…so if we wanna be forgiven for what we have done ..we learn to forgive also those people who wronged you. Sometimes..when you say sorry and asked forgiveness for what you have done…and he or she did not forgive you..well the best part was that you admitted that you were wrong and you asked forgiveness…that will ease your guilt…than having those little pride and say nothing .

zeus2006

Turkey

It depends on people or situation.Sometimes we can forgive one easyly,sometimes we can’t.Maybe because of tone,or speaking style.We should have more tolerance towards them.