In a conversation about former South African president Nelson Mandela, Clinton talked about Mandela's ability to forgive his captors."Didn't you hate them?" Clinton recalled asking Mandela privately, referring to Mandela's final steps as a prisoner walking to freedom."'Sure I did,'" Mandela said, per Clinton. "'I felt anger and hatred and fear. And I realized if I kept hating them, once I got in that car and got through the gate I would still be in prison. So I let it go because I wanted to be free.'"I had not heard about this conversation between Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela (took place a couple of years ago) until I was listening to the radio tonight. Don't laugh at me, but I was flipping through stations and heard Delilah talking about this so I parked there for a bit. She didn't quote word for word but she put it in her own words. She talked about how so many times in our lives people will let us down, hurt us, intentionally knock us to our knees, make us mad, bitter etc. Most people harbor that anger and bitterness in their hearts for a long time-possibly forever. And for what reason? How does that help you? All it does is give that person or situation power over you and your heart. Hmmm....that got me thinking! I am that person. Quick to anger and hold on to that anger until it turns my insides ugly and seeps outward and makes me a miserable, bitter, and cynical person. Not the person that I want to be and definitely not the role model that I want to be for Macy Jane. I would be lying if I said that I don't struggle with this daily....sometimes hourly :) Some days I just wish that I could flip the switch inside of me and be this person that never lets anything bother them and is always happy go lucky etc. However, I am who I am and can only work to be a better person. I've never really thought about how letting the angerness, bittnerness, and hatred overcome you will leave you in a self created prison cell and allows that situation or person complete control. Life is too short to go through it a miserable person! I know that I've missed out on many things because of my stubborn self, but hopefully I will continue to have these revelations periodically to help keep me in check. This past week was a long one and in many ways a difficult one for me, which I do not want to discuss or want sympathy for, but I felt all of these feelings building inside of me again....thank God I realized it before they overtook me again. This note was simply for me so that I can look back on it perdiodically and remember it and keep myself in check. I'm sure I'm not the only person that struggles with this so maybe this will help someone else as well.