Hey Jilly! It came as a surprise to me, too, although after I thought about it, it made sense. It’s my religious background that taught me that, and there have been a couple times I’ve struggled. I’m not one to hold grudges, but forgiveness can be tricky. Once they told me it wasn’t a requirement, it made total sense. First of all, if I’ve struggled with forgiving emotional abuse, I can only imagine how hard it is with physical or sexual abuse, or violence. I don’t blame people for not being able to forgive that. Second, I think knowing we don’t have to do that helps us heal. Feeling better is I think easier when forgiving isn’t on the agenda, and you can focus on yourself. Lastly, when we cross over and get our universal knowledge back, we’ll know and understand the life plan we made, and I don’t think we’ll carry over any hostility. Plus, you know God and the AA’s love and accept us as we are. I should’ve known they would understand all of our struggles and imperfections.