There is a pragmatic (in the wider sense of the word) aspect to forgiveness. Part of the satisfaction, it seems, in doing wrong to people lies in the tie that afterward binds one to the other within the structures of power. One law professor, and ultimately my guess was that this was ingenuous, would boast in class gleefully about the people who thought that he had ruined their life.
If you are going to tell your own story, and by doing so tell the story of the world, you have to see that intention, and steer clear of emotionally reacting to the events. Like Cannetti's "stinger", it will obscure your understanding by drawing you into conflict, and ultimately prompt in you the very sort of behaviour you encountered. By turning the other cheek, you are maintaining dispassion, and keeping the wrongdoer from exercising that hold over your mind.
The world, which is to say your understanding of all things, is composed of people who do such things, not created by the things which are done.