A blackboard is an example of one of life’s greatest lessons. Once words have been put out there, they can’t be fully erased again. Good or bad, the things we say to other people can last longer even than the physical marks we might make on them. And some can last lifetimes.

Think before speaking, even the things you believe are a compliment. But most of all, understand that you cannot expect others to interpret your words how you meant them. Because once they’re out there, the words are no longer your own. They’re shared now, and the marks they leave are indelible.

Forgiveness is usually considered the harder of the two in that age old epithet: forgive and forget. I say that given both choices, it’s the opposite. There is no such thing as truly forgetting something that’s happened, particularly if it was bad. Both body and mind remember no matter what we might try. It might grow smudged or not quite as sharp as it once was, but it never returns to a fully blank canvas.