In my younger days, I'd forgive anyone for pretty much anything they did to me -- probably because I was alone with no social support system, so it was just easier and safer than getting involved in a conflict. It was what some psychology researchers call the "fine" response, as in "everything is fine."
That's been recently added recently to the "fight, flight, freeze, or fawn" options for when we're confronted with danger. I would just try to ignore what happened and hope that the threat would go away on its own, and that worked to some extent. Of course, responding in that way is bad for one's self-esteem, but my self-esteem has always been at rock bottom, so it didn't make things any worse.
I think that response is common for people with low self-esteem: they don't feel worthy of respect, so when someone disrespects them, it's just par for the course; that's just how things are. And if you try to demand respect, you run the risk of being laughed at or ridiculed, or worse.
These days, I just stay away from people whenever I can. I've gotten to the point where people just aren't worth the trouble. I used to be able to socialize with the crutch of alcohol, but since my body can no longer tolerate alcohol, my mind can no longer tolerate people.
So that's just the way it is. I think we can become somewhat content if we try to live in the present and not think too much about what could have been or what already happened. We can't change the past, so we have no choice but to accept it as being beyond our dichotomy of control.
As far as people doing us harm in the future, we can be on our guard and be prepared for an altercation. The trick is, I guess, to not forget. It's like a boxer who drops his guard for even a second; that's when he gets hit.
