Is it wrong to want to forgive someone by making the decision to help yourself to be freed from the rage and resentment? Or, is forgiveness only legitimate if you do it for the offending person? 

We need to make a distinction between what forgiveness is and what are motivations for forgiving.  When a person, who was treated unjustly, has the goal of reducing rage, this is a legitimate motivation.  At the same time, forgiveness itself, as a moral virtue, is for the one who offended.  So, as you appropriate forgiveness, you are doing your best to reach out to the other with kindness, respect, generosity, and even love.  Your motivation for doing so may be to help yourself to heal emotionally.  Further, this motivation eventually can change toward wanting the best for the one who offended.

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