I BEG forgiveness for my wrongdoing, in thought and deed. The cards for Id pile up, and text messages go back and forth. The Id holiday is a time when forgiveness is automatically asked, and just as automatically given.

But forgiveness is not a gift.

Giving forgiveness is not bestowing something, but rather acknowledging the inconstant. A poem by the Welsh poet Alun Lewis acknowledges this in whispered tones:

Forgive this strange inconstancy of soul