Second Chances: Redemption or Not?

2/26/14
6:45 AM
Listening to Forgiven by Within Temptation

I sit here thinking about if I'll ever get a second chance at life. It weighs on my mind because of all the juvenile lifers who came to prison as a teenager now have a chance to get out. It's a long and hard fight, but they have a chance.

I want to add this newspaper article I read from the USA Today newspaper. Please read this article and give this amazing 16-year-old girl some consideration. I want to quote what this young woman wrote:

"It is illogical to give the harshest sentence, a sentence that does not allow redemption, to the ones who may have the greatest capacity for redemption itself."

I was 21 years old. I am not making excuses for my crime nor will I try to minimize it by giving reasons why. We all have the capacity to do good and, for those of us who truly deserve it, we all seek redemption. In my faith, I have been forgiven.

This 16-year-old girl sees that some people do deserve a second chance, and she made her feelings and opinions known. She took on a serious issue, one that affects thousands of people in prison and their families. She did what most 16-year-olds will never do: she spoke up.

I am not a juvenile lifer. I was 21 when I committed my crime, so this decision will never affect me. But it does affect a lot of people that I know, some of them whom are worthy of a second chance.

Please read this article and give your opinion. She is obviously a very intelligent young woman. She quoted the Bible, quote scientific research, and she made her case. I don't want to make this too long because I want everyone to read her article. But one day, I hope I have someone like her in my corner when I ask for a second chance. It is my only recourse for redemption and, inside, I do seek it. I do have the desire to make up for past wrongs, to do right, to seek forgiveness to those whom I have hurt during my lifetime. The guilt in one's heart becomes so overbearing that I need to make up for my past.

But that's for another day. Right now, I focus on bettering myself and focusing on my daughter. And I leave you with that.

Jamie Foxx acted in a movie called Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story. It's a very good movie when you look for the message in it. If you ever have a chance to see it, I would.

Take care. Stay safe and God bless. Hopefully God will bless us by ending this winter. Ciao.