Forgive and Forget

We constantly keep hearing this phrase, "Forgive and Forget" and is probably a cliched one too. Are we actually capable of forgetting the past?

Will you ever be able to forget if you were severly wronged by a person??? I was or atleast I believe I was wronged by somebody. Over a period of time, i did forgive the person and don't hold a grudge against them. However, if the question is, would I want to be back with this person? The answer is a "NOOOO". I sometimes ask myself this question, "Have I actually forgiven and forgotten whatever was the past?", Yet again, the answer is a resounding "NO"

Why is it so Important for us to forgive people and why do we still remember the past? The only logical answer which I could think of is our "EGO". I haven't seen a single individual who doesn't like his/her ego being massaged. When I thought about the person who had wronged me, I knew for sure I was not hoping for this person to be a part of my life again. But, I was definitely hoping to come face to face with this person and the person apologising to me for having wronged me. I would feel good when I tell the person, "You are forgiven". Our EGO would get a boost when that happens, AND, we still continue to remember this afterwards as well. I guess most human beings love to reminiscence the part when they have done a good deed and feel good about it!!!!