Some Things Are Worth Forgiving, Others Not So Much

There’s an episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender that deals with the topic of forgiveness In the third season of the hit animated series, Katara has a hard time trying to accept Zuko into their group, due to the fact that he used to try and hunt down Aang and his friends. Not to mention that Katara’s mother was also killed by the Fire Nation. Zuko reveals that he may know who was responsible for the murder of Katara’s mother, so together Katara and Zuko journey across the Fire Nation, interrogating Fire Nation soldiers into giving them information about the killer. Katara even bloodbends a soldier into talking, a technique she herself vowed to never do again a few episodes back. Eventually Katara confronts her mother’s killer and learns that he’s nothing more than a sad, cowardly old man that would sacrifice his own mother to spare his life. In the end, she figures killing him would be pointless, but in a surprising twist, especially in a family show on Nickelodeon, she doesn’t forgive him for what he did and states that she’ll never forgive him. Normally stating that aloud is a bit of a no-no in kids shows, especially since Katara is one of the most ethical characters of the show. Yet this does not stop her for finally forgiving Zuko, someone she was always spiteful of from the start.

In the end, forgiveness is ultimately a choice. Some things can be forgiven, others not. Who you can forgive and what you can forgive is up to you.

#forgiveness #avatar #nickelodeon