I enjoy playing with words. I like to put words together and see how they are related.
Consider the two words "give" and "get." These words are clearly opposites, at least in some sense. You give something, and somebody gets something.
You can give directions, give a donation, give a darn, give thanks, give up, give help, give time. When you give something, you are releasing it, sharing it, parting with it.
Then there's get. You get ahead, get a chance, get excited, get up, get out, get down, get help, get to work, get around, get hired, get rich, get serious, get sick. When you get something, you obtain it, acquire it, come to possess it.
Now, you can take both of these words and add the prefix "for." We have for-give and for-get. Although these words are often used together, I have never thought of them as opposites.
Let's try using synonyms for the words give and get, to see if we gain any insights.
Give: For-release, for-share, for-part with. You get the idea of letting go, even letting go ahead of time. Or maybe letting go with purpose. It is giving with meaning. If forgiving is releasing someone from payment or guilt, then that makes a lot of sense.
Get: For-obtain, for-acquire, for-possess. Here we get the idea of obtaining with some agenda or purpose. How about getting ahead of time? But for-getting, to me, also has the notion of releasing. Could it be that for-getting is getting an empty mind, getting a new start, getting them ahead of time?
When I forgive, I need to remember that I'm giving something to someone. When I forget, I need to "remember" that I'm receiving a mind free from unhelpful distraction.
Of course, there is that other kind of forgetting, that feels like a loss, no obtaining or acquiring.
We could just forget this wordplay. Forgive me for trying.
