14. Do we really have to forgive others?

Forgiveness is often spoken about as the only way to truly move on. But is it? What is forgiveness anyway? Is it coming to peace and acceptance? Is it taking someone else off the hook for what they did? Does it mean we must continuously expose ourselves to the scene of the crime or situations and people that wound us repeatedly? Is turning the other cheek really a virtue? Where do boundaries fit in? And what do we do when forgiving prematurely actually leads us into self-abandonment, thus blocking us from healing and our aggressors from feeling true remorse?