Resentment is anger that had nowhere to go. Something happened — an injustice, a disappointment, a pattern of being treated a certain way — and the response couldn't be expressed. So it stayed. It compounded. It became part of the furniture of a relationship or a situation.

The dangerous thing about resentment is that it's often invisible to the person carrying it. It expresses itself sideways — in tone, in distance, in small resistances. By the time you name it, it's been there a long time.

Anonymous thoughts about resentment posted here give it a name, finally. No performance of forgiveness required.