There's One in Every Outfit

I think that forgiveness involves more than just not taking vengeance, it also means not holding a grudge. If a sin is forgiven, it's expunged from the record like it never happened.

Every culture has its rules, and most of its members abide by them most of the time, but there's always a significant number who don't. This reminds me of a story:

There was this brigade of bees that had always lived in Northern Michigan, which means they had to go dormant for about half the year. They woke up hungry every spring and had to spend most of the summer replenishing their store of honey so they could make it through the next winter. One day the queen bee decided that they would have a better life if they all moved down to Florida where it's warm all year. She called her four battalion commanders together and told them about her idea, and they all agreed.

Since it was going to be a long trip, the queen issued the following orders: "First Battalion will take the lead, Second Battalion will guard the left flank, Third Battalion will guard the right flank, and Fourth Battalion will bring up the rear. I will stay in the center or the formation where I can supervise the whole thing. Every evening, when it starts to get dark, the First Battalion will send out an advance party to look for a Shell gas station. They all have a big yellow lighted sign that can be seen for miles, so any stragglers will be able to find us in the dark. Everybody is to land on that Shell sign and stay there until the lights are turned off in the morning so we can all leave together. Is that clear?" "Yes Ma'am!" the battalion commanders shouted in unison, and the meeting was adjourned. Then the battalion commanders each called a meeting of their company commanders and made sure they all understood the queen's orders. The company commanders then met with their platoon leaders, the platoon leaders met with their squad leaders, the squad leaders met with their men, and so the orders were passed down the chain of command until everybody knew exactly what they were supposed to do.

All went as planned until the bees got down to Kentucky where, in those days, there was a brand of gasoline called "Esso". All the bees landed on a Shell sign as ordered, except for one bee that landed on the Esso sign across the street. When this was brought to the queen's attention, she called that bee's battalion commander on the carpet and read him the riot act. Similarly, the battalion commander chewed out the bee's company commander, who chewed out the platoon leader, who chewed out the squad leader. The squad leader then flew over to the Esso sign and lit into the deviant bee: "What the hell's the matter with you? Why aren't you on the Shell sign like everybody else? You got our battalion commander, our company commander, our platoon leader, and me all into trouble with the queen. What the hell were you thinking?" The errant bee replied laconically, "Well Sarge, you know there's always one Esso bee in every outfit."