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Then I thought of the a man I knew only as Charles P. — the very embodiment of Grit, Gratitude, and Grace.
I met him in 1996 at a Chicago Alano Club he had frequented 25 years earlier.
He had just been released from Stateville prison in Joliet, Illlinois, having served 23 years of a life sentence on a rape conviction.
A crime he DID NOT commit.
DNA evidence had been entered into the court record by students working for The Innocence Project, proving Charles could not have been the perpetrator.
The evidence had been in the state’s possession for 23 years. It had never had been tested.
An exoneration that should have happened in 24 hours took 23 years.
Charles was set free with no compensation, no apology and nowhere to go. He had no home.
- His wife had divorced him
- His children left him
- His parents had passed
- His friends had forgotten him
What he had were 23 years of practice in Grit ~ Gratitude ~ Grace.
And what a place to practice these virtues. My friend Neil Vance, a professor of criminal justice who visited the prison, told me, ”If you ever want to visit hell you need go farther than the Stateville Penitentiary.”
By the time of his release Charles was a middle-aged man with not a nickel to his name, stripped of everything that made a life — a life.
What he did have, however, was the fruit of his practice. A character seeded with grit, cultivated with gratitude and fertilized with grace.
All from a divine source outside himself.
His talk that night was one I shall never forget, positively riveting. It was filled with vivid stories of a man determined not to be undone by that which had been done to him.
He had long passed on the notion of “an eye for an eye.”
His said his key to survival was in surrendering his
- anger for the crime committed against him,
- resentment toward those who continued his persecution,
- rage at being labeled a sex criminal.
Amazingly, he let it all go.
He made a life for himself in prison by helping other inmates with their legal issues. He worked for them as others were working for him, bringing light to the old adage, “You keep what you give away.”
I share this story with you in hopes that when you find yourself in a time where there “Ain’t No Sunshine,” when cloudy days hang around for weeks, months and years…
You remember the story of the Old Crow.
A crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a pitcher which had once been full of water. But when the crow put its beak into the mouth of the pitcher he found that only very little water was left in it, and that he could not reach far enough down to get at it. He tried, and he tried, but at last had to give up in despair.
- Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it into the pitcher.
- Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the pitcher.
- Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the pitcher.
- Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the pitcher.
At last, at last, he saw the water mount up near him, and after casting in a few more pebbles he was able to quench his thirst and save his life.
Charles P. reminds us if we have
- gratitude for the pebbles that come into our life
- grit to use those same pebbles to build a life
- grace shall be given to sustain life
Now, as the hungry crows that we are, let’s gather around the campfire and listen to Mark Pearson sing “Gratitude, Grit And Grace.”
For more on the music of Mark Pearson: https://markpearsonmusic.com/
Just a thought…
Pat