A friend shared a beautiful story of a local, attorney friend of his who posted this on his FB page yesterday (thanks, Jim):
Yesterday I went into the courtroom because I needed to talk to Deputy Prosecutor Jack Roebel and Judge Joe Sutton. They were conducting a sentencing so I decided to watch and wait.
An Amish family sat behind the defense table where the defendant, an Amish young man, sat with his lawyer.
On the other side of the aisle was an African American man in a wheel chair with two boys next to him.
The story was simple and tragic. The young Amish man had gone to a Notre Dame tailgate party and gotten drunk. He then drove back home. On the way he ran a stop sign and hit a car driven by the African American man with some kids in it. The man nearly lost his leg, suffered a collapsed lung and endured other pretty severe injuries. For a long time he was placed in a medically induced coma. One of the kids suffered an orbital fracture and frankly I missed who else was hurt and how badly.
The arguments were made by the lawyers and it then came time for the victim to speak. Clearly he was now disabled and his life is forever changed. And what he did was incredible--he completely forgave the offender. He looked at him and talked about how he had gotten off the right path earlier in his life. He told the defendant that he believed that the young man was a good person and could get back on the right path if he followed what his family taught him. He exhibited a grace, mercy, and forgiveness which I cannot remember seeing in 36 years of criminal law. And after the hearing the Amish family embraced him and all broke down in tears.
I came away realizing that my resentments and grievances are largely petty and am inspired to embrace and display as much forgiveness as I am able.
