Hope

No need for bitterness.

There was a local story this week in our news. A man was set free from jail after DNA evidence exonerated him after being locked up for 37 years. Put away at 18, released at 55.

…not kinda, sorta, maybe he didn’t do it; not, well he’s done enough time and even though we think he did it we’ll go ahead and let him out.

After 37 years in prison, early this month an Innocence Project lawyer tells him they “found” DNA from the crime scene that had been long ago locked up and forgotten. On Aug 20, they get the analysis results and discover it wasn’t him. On Aug 26 the judge declares him not guilty. The next day…the next day, the prosecutor releases him from prison. It was that clear it wasn’t him.

This guy woke up at the beginning of August without a prayer, without hope, his only recourse is the parole board to which he remains steadfast in his innocence, and he is free by the end of the month.

He gets out of jail, after 37 years, — t-h-i-r-t-y-s-e-v-e-n Y-E-A-R-S — after being wrongly convicted and what does he have to say about it:

“I don't have room in my life for bitterness. If you keep hatred and bitterness in your heart it just steals your joy from everything else”. — Robert DuBoise

Wow!

Jacob Blake’s mother, a woman who has all the reason in the world to be bitter, what does she have to say:

“…how dare we hate…”

“…I’m not mad…” — Julia Jackson

She apologized! Watch her addressing the press, the people. Impressive.

Wow!

A man and a woman, from two dramatically different walks of life. Both with justifiable reasons to have hatred in their heart. Both choosing a better path.

They didn’t take sides, they didnt blame others, they didn’t seek to divide.

There is hope.

“The Stoics weren’t being hypothetical when they said we ought to act with a reverse clause and that even the most unfortunate events can turn out to be for the best.” -Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic