yes everyone should be forgiven.and it can happen. why do you ask though?

yes.. we must learn to forgive others.. however it is easier said then done.. this is what my experiences taught me..

An interesting choice of words... that you chose ethical instead of moral. Morality is first and foremost about NOT wronging people and fulfilling your obligations. But as no one can ever deserve to be forgiven (if they deserved it, it wouldn't be forgivness) and forgiveness is by definition gracious (i.e., NOT obligatory), it goes beyond mere right and wrong, but arguably transcends them. Ethics - in the sense of ethical philsophy, as opposed to, say, professional codes of ethics - go beyond mere matters of justice, recompense, accountability, integrity and fair play, in that their focus is on how to live "the good life" adjudged in existential more than material terms. As such, forgiveness may be supremely ethical, as harboring bitterness, resentment, and a desire for vengeance against another is destructive of that existential goal. Acting on those negative desires and exacting the full measure of retribution (when justly merited) may be even more therapeutic, however, and thus more ethical. As to which is better/more ethical, philosophers have disagreed wth each other (and some times even with themselves) since the dawn of time. The one thing they are agreed on is "Either BE or DON'T BE! Either take up arms against the sea of troubles or resolve to bear the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, but don't stand there dithering Hamlet-like vascillating between both!" You only do vastly more damage to everyone than a whole hearted pursuit of either option alone could possibly do. Half measures suffer all the negatives of both sides and gain none of the advantages of either. ("What a strange and bewildering time we live in -- niether savage nor wise. Half-measures are the curse of it: any rational society would either kill me or put me to some use." - Hanibal Lechter in Red Dragon) If one adds social harmony and community/family to the ethical connundrum, then the choice between forgiveness and retribution is to be judged by the effect on community/family -- you may have perfect warrant to kill your brother-in-law, but the damage to family and marital relations may be too great. That being said, forgiveness implies (indeed necessitates) repentance. Without repentance, it's not forgiveness: it's only permissiveness and outright license.