Harmony

Or, the Psychology of Forgiveness

Photo by Lina Trochez on Unsplash

This creative nonfiction essay was originally published in 2015 in the Yellow Chair Review, a literary journal which is no longer in operation.

In the classic psychological experiment by Leon Festinger, participants were asked to perform a variety of dull, meaningless tasks, such as turning a wood peg around on a board. Half were paid twenty dollars for their…