Forgiveness & Mistakes

Published 12/17/2025

The blog post below was originally written by Mahdi on March 24th, 2022 on his old website Justice for Mahdi Ali. Nic recently gained access to Mahdi's old Jpay tablet and is in the process of transferring old articles to this space. The full text is below this line:

Forgiveness is a must and a very crucial thing to believe in as a human being, in my opinion. As a human being, we make so many mistakes throughout our lifetime. It's all part of living, and forgiveness is a part of our overall growth. It's hard to move on and develop a sense of peace within yourself if you don't learn how to forgive yourself and others. For years I was mad at the world and mad at everything and everybody due to my wrongful conviction and incarceration. I kept asking myself, "Why me?" wondering why I kept finding myself at a disadvantage in every situation. It took me years to really forgive all the people that played a role in my current situation:

• The people that took me from my family in Kenya and brought me to America at a very young age who abandoned me the second that we arrived in Minnesota.

• The people who abused me mentally, physically, emotionally, and psychologically during my stays in group homes, shelters, and while homeless in my early youth.

• The people who framed me during my trial and helped convict me of a crime that I did not commit. This cost me my freedom and made liberty seem like an unobtainable dream.

I could go on and on and on about people who have done me wrong in the past, but I have forgiven those people now and it serves no purpose to dwell on the pain they caused at this stage. Once I truly forgave those who hurt me it allowed my healing process to begin. I also had to find the ability to forgive myself for carrying all of this anger throughout the years. Letting that anger go helped me move forward with my growth tremendously. The reason I wrote this article in particular is to help remind everyone of the importance of forgiveness and making mistakes. Our world revolves around forgiveness and mistakes whether you care to admit it or not. Please continue to find it in your heart to forgive those who've made mistakes. This is part of life and growth as a human being.

Mahdi Hassan Ali OID#: 236437 MCF Rush City