Legacy Letter to My Enemies and Critics

Over the last several days, I have written several legacy letters:

• Legacy Letter to My Students
• Legacy Letter to My Supporters
• Legacy Letter to My Relatives
• Legacy Letter to Romantic Partners Over the Years

The list continues, but this legacy letter carries more emotional weight, even though it has spiritual power like the others. It’s not about bitterness. Instead, it's about clarity, forgiveness, and the strength to bless even "those who misunderstood me." I am saying "those who misunderstand me" because I was criticized by those who didn't get to know me. It is human nature for people to criticize and find fault with things and people they don't know. So, here is the legacy letter.

To Those Who Misunderstood Me,

I write this not in anger, but in truth. I write this legacy letter not to reopen wounds, but to offer closure. You may have described me in negative ways, such as: “too bold,” “too different,” "too sensitive," "too serious," "too picky," or something worse.

You may have questioned my choices, my voice, my path, and that’s all right. Your words, though painful at times, helped me clarify who I am today.

You showed me where I stood. You revealed what I would not compromise. You gave me the gift of resistance, and I turned it into resilience.

I want you to know: I did not retaliate. I did not clap back, I did not shrink. I did not lose myself. And I did not fall flat on my face.

Instead, I prayed. I wrote. I taught. I grew. I became more of who I was meant to be.

Your criticism became my cocoon, and from it, I emerged as a beautiful butterfly with wings. I did the following things for good reasons.

• I forgive you—not because I condone the harm, but because I refuse to carry it.
• I release you—not because I forget, but because I choose peace.
• I bless you—not because you asked for it, but because I am called to do so.
• I write this legacy letter to you—not to ask for an apology, but to let you know that you did not break me. Rather, you kept me on my knees praying as much for you as for myself.

It might appear to have been ironic, but every time bricks were thrown at me, I stood on them. While you were trying to make me lower, I was rising higher. I also want you to know that trying to blow out my candle did not make your candle burn any brighter.

Hopefully, you will read every word in this letter and understand that they were written with clarity, not spite. They were written with strength, not vengeance. They were written with love, not hate. Furthermore, they are written to encourage you to write your own legacy letters.

Know that you are part of my story. I thank you for your role in making me who I am, and I would not change that if I could. I have written the above legacy letters because I do not want to go to my grave with anything unsaid that should have been said.

I wish you hadn't spent valuable time criticizing me. If you had taken the time to get to know me, I think you would have respected me. We could have been friends—perhaps not best friends, but at least casual ones.

Since that was not the case, so be it. However, know that I have accepted that we did not walk in the same paths. While one of us was zizzing, the other was zagging.

With grace, peace, and release—Margaret Minnicks