SHOULD IT MATTER???

Sometime last week, I posted a tweet that reflected my thoughts and how I felt at the time. I quote the tweet here ‘should it matter that the beautiful swan was once an ugly duckling?’ I’ll try to relate , in the course of this write-up, the relationship between that quote and redemption.
In my early life, I was always described by 2 words, naughty boy. This descriptive was as a result of my inquisitive nature. In the real sense of it, I was mislabeled cause even when I had nothing up my sleeves, the general assumption was that I was up to something. This reputation followed me for a very long while. The incident that occurred and ultimately inspired this write up is this.
I was at a friend’s place to chill. Whilst there, 3 ladies walked out of a room in the house and immediately I set my eyes on her, I was smitten. She is the personification of beauty, grace, and the frailty of femininity. I mean, you’ld want to touch but then again you wouldn’t want to for fear that you might scar her. The rest of the time I spent at my friend’s place, my eyes stayed glued to her person, observing every detail, even how she chewed her meal. At this point, I was nursing inappropriate desires in my heart as I had confirmed that she actually is a sister of my friend. This singular factor made approaching her in his presence, inappropriate. Worst still, desiring her for anything other than friendship was going to be frowned upon by everyone, sincerely I wanted more. Somehow I got her number without compromising any principle of decorum as social network sites were there for accessing information on whoever you wanted to. We got talking and have been enjoying the compliment of each other’s company ever since. Then came this day, I was at my friend’s place again and somehow, my friend saw my blackberry messenger conversation with his sister and he went ballistic. I tried to calm him down by stating that my intentions where noble but he went on and on about how my intentions adds up to nothing but hurt and heartbreak for his sis……
This incident really hurt me and had me thinking. One of the most uttered quotes is: ‘change is the only constant thing in life’. To what extent we believe this quote, I don’t know. What I know is that we fail to acknowledge the potency of the power of change and how it remakes the character over time. Friends and family alike never cease to express their surprise at new traits we exhibit when they see us again after a long period of us being out of touch with them, like we are supposed to be the same person we were 5 or so years ago.
When the issue of reputation, antecedents, and repertoire come up, nobody ever considers that over time one might have changed. This takes us to the subject of ‘redemption’. From the biblical perspective, we are encouraged to embrace redemption with the assurance that our sins will be not only forgiven, but also forgotten. That’s a hell of an offer if you ask me, considering the sharp contrast of the secular system of justice where prior offences are recorded so they can resurface when one errs again. This might lead you to ask, is redemption a lofty pursuit outside the religious context? What is the essence of redemption then? In my opinion, embracing redemption is not to undo your past, neither is it to make a point. It is for one’s self/sake. A spiritual healing process, and a reflection of growth. How long shall we continue to fail in acknowledging the beauty of the swan because sometime back it was an ugly duckling???