Ignorance Hides Behind History
Ignorance hides behind history. Awareness will prevent repetition.
“Let him do his time!” John Watts demands, turning away in his motorized wheelchair.
“Dad!” Steven, his oldest son, said, “I am not going to let my brother go to prison. It’s hell in there.”
John spun his wheelchair around and said, “You think I am in heaven sitting in this damn wheelchair for more than ten years?”
“I am not allowing my brother to go to jail!” Jason stated, walking out of his father’s house.
John Watts didn’t see or hear from both sons for two years. But he learned that Steven paid off the victim, and the prison sentence that hung over his brother’s head was removed permanently. Being an old cripple, he couldn’t do much to help his children. No one wanted to hear from him. Life gave him three choices while growing up.
1) Do what he wanted.
2) Do what must be done
3)Do what is right
John did what he wanted, and a wheelchair became his prison. An appeal wasn’t a part of his options. His thoughts slipped back to more than ten years ago when he could walk. His instincts alert that Nigel was chosen to repeat history. Nigel always did what he wanted. Steven did what must be done. Judith, his only daughter, did what was right. She seems to win most of the time. She often teased when she visited, “Dad, you don’t have to redo anything when you do the right things.”
Today she was coming to see him, glancing at his watch, the buzzer beeped, and his aide said, “She is early.”
She entered along with Steven. From the look on their faces, John knew history had visited. Before his brain could ask, Steven said, “Why didn’t you tell me the truth about how you became a cripple?”
“History repeated itself, ah?” he asked, staring at his son.
“I paid everyone, so no one implicated him in Jim’s murder. He went right back in as if nothing happened,” Steven confessed.
John sighed deeply and asked his back to his son, “will he live?”
“You were expecting this, Dad?” Judith asked.
Turning his wheelchair around, John opened the door to his heart, “more than ten years ago, I took part in a robbery, and someone died. It was by accident. Someone owes someone a favor that owed my grandfather. I was saved from one hell. Two years later, I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. I was saved from one damnation and exchanged it for the one I am living in now.”
“So that’s why you wanted him to do time?” Steven said.
“My accomplices will be paroled in two years, and they can walk. They are model prisoners and have degrees they acquired while imprisoned. They will come out better than they went in. When you do the wrong things, hell will be in all your directions if you refuse to learn from your mistakes. Satan won’t send a messenger. He will come himself to collect.”
“But you don’t know what would have happened if you went to prison, dad,” Judith said.
“I agree. And I would love to find out. Sometimes we try to evade one hell and end up in the worst one. Yes, I think he should have done his time. My life should have been a perfect example for anyone who refused to do the right thing.”
“He is paralyzed from the neck down, Dad,” Steven said sadly. “There is truth in your words.”
Ignorance hides behind history. Awareness will prevent repetition.
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