To say Avatar: The Last Airbender is a show with great life lessons would be an understatement.
There’s a reason why people come back to this show time and time again, and that is because
of the abundance of morals the story provides. One of them being the importance of forgiveness,
and the toxicity of revenge. As Aang says in one episode, “Revenge is like a two-headed rat-viper.
While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself.”
When I mention the idea of forgiveness it might sound unappealing, and you might
immediately reject it, maybe even criticize me for suggesting it in the first place.
You might call me, “Guru Goody-Goody.” As humans, it’s normal to not want to talk, or
even think about forgiveness. Some of us might even think it’s impossible. And that’s okay,
this video will not force forgiveness down your throat. If you’re someone who is struggling with
forgiving someone in your life, all I ask for you is to consider the possibility that
maybe it is possible to let it go. This show provides a blueprint for how to do that.
So, there are 2 episodes in particular that are about revenge vs. forgiveness. The first
one is “The Great Divide” from Book 1, and the second is “The Southern Raiders” from Book 3.
Here’s a fun way of thinking about it: “The Great Divide” is “How to forgive someone…
easy mode.” And “The Southern Raiders” is “How to forgive someone… hard mode.”
To summarize “The Great Divide” in the simplest, and quickest way possible,
it is about 2 tribes who hate each other.
In this episode, both tribes have a goal of crossing a canyon, but of course,
they refuse to do it as a team. After Aang basically forces them to travel together,
a couple of big ass, alien-like monsters are the least of their worries. Throughout the episode,
both tribes constantly throw shots at one another, using whatever they can use as an insult.
It eventually gets to a point where Aang is forced to split up the 2 tribes for the
sake of their survival.
It gives Team Avatar the perfect opportunity to find out what the reason is as to why they hate each other so much.
Moments later, after we finally get to hear both sides of the story, we find out that it’s all a complete misunderstanding.
Without boring you, I’ll briefly clarify. One tribe believes their orb was stolen, while the other thinks the opposite
and the person accused of stealing the orb was wrongfully punished. So basically, nobody really
knows what happened, they’re just going based on what history tells them, and that’s the reason
they hate each other.
The reason why I said this episode demonstrates an easy way to forgive someone is because sometimes
it really is just a complete misunderstanding. For example: Some foreigner might enter your
country and say something that you think is rude, and disrespectful, but what if that person simply
wasn’t educated about your culture, and how it differs from theirs? Or maybe that person just
doesn’t understand your language that well. In that case, what is there to hold a grudge about?
See the situation from that person’s shoes. In many cases they’re trying to do good, but they fail due to ignorance, and unawareness.
Of course, admitting that it might be a misunderstanding takes a ton of open-mindedness.
It’s not easy to admit you’re wrong about someone or something.
Once Aang finds out that it’s just a misunderstanding,
he tells them his side of the story....
And so, the 2 tribes let bygones be bygones and finally move on with their lives. As they say, it’s better late than never.
Imagine spending your whole life hating someone for basically no reason. Now that would be tragic.
Of course, oftentimes it’s more than just a misunderstanding.
There are people who harm others on purpose. Through words, and through physical abuse.
Katara is scarred by the images of her mother's death. Those images have stuck with her for as long as she can remember.
“The Southern Raiders” is an episode where she and Zuko try to find the person who killed her.
Obviously she has a hard time forgiving the unknown man who killed her mother,
but she also has a hard time forgiving Zuko, and for good reason.
Zuko has betrayed her in the past, so why should she trust him again?
Well, the difference here is Zuko actually feels guilt, and regret for his past actions,
and vows to make it up to Katara by helping her find the person who took her mother away from her.
However I want to make it clear that forgiveness isn’t about going around and blindly trusting
everyone who has done you wrong in the past. If your intuition is telling you that
someone is dangerous then they probably are, and perhaps it’s best to stay as far away from them
as possible. If we look back a couple of episodes prior when Zuko offers to join their group,
they don’t accept him right away. They wait until he proves his innocence, and does something good.
This of course is a cartoon, so it’s not totally accurate to real life. But that doesn’t mean it’s
not on to something. While incredibly difficult, it is totally possible to forgive evil behavior.
Every now and then you run into a video on YouTube where the victim
forgives the person who intentionally performed some of the highest possible examples of evil.
There’s a reason why those videos stand out, there’s a reason why we respect the
person forgiving, and that is because it’s very challenging to be that mentally strong.
Even if you don’t quite understand why the person did what they did,
you can sympathize with them. “When someone does something "evil,” they simply want love,
like we all do, but they don't know how else to get it, other than through this
selfish action which we call evil because it hurts somebody else.” (Credit: Mihai Borsai)
The simple act of making an effort to try and understand why some guy is the way he is,
or why he would feel the need to resort to evil behavior
can help you understand why whatever happened, happened.
Maybe it’s not enough to forgive the person, but at the very least... kinda, sorta... understand them.
When Katara has a chance to kill the man who took her mother away from her, she lets her anger
go. She doesn’t choose revenge. Why? Because deep down, she knows he’s simply lost, empty,
and delusional. She doesn’t forgive him, but she understands why he did what he did. No, it doesn’t
justify his actions, of course it doesn’t, but it does help her gain clarity on the situation.
That’s what makes this episode brilliant. It doesn’t force forgiveness down your throat.
Forgiveness is not mandatory. It’s a choice.
Sometimes, the pain is too much to handle, so we choose not to, and that’s okay.
So in conclusion, gaining understanding helps in the process of letting go of something from
the past. It’s what has helped me forgive the people who have hurt me. And if I’m being honest,
I’m not perfect either. I’m pretty sure I’ve hurt others throughout my life,
and probably will in the future. Most of the time it is unintentional, yeah,
but still it’s completely possible to hurt someone and not even notice, but it is also possible
to forgive yourself, and in doing so, it helps you forgive others, the more you practice it.