I am moved to put my thoughts this morning together from a prompting in reading a piece from yesterday's local newspaper concerning a young man sentenced to thirty plus years for a multiple felony conviction. In the article, the writer, Charita Goshay, probes wonderfully into the workings of the mind at a young age about decisions or choices, I like to call them, that can and will have either very positive or very detrimental implications as life's journey unfolds.
At sixty-four years old but working in a world of 20-somethings in my teaching, it is a wonderful world and I find joy in an array of ways each time I am in class, have email interaction, phone conversations, FB dialog, etc for I get to not only sense the lives of today but get to be part of those lives as they prepare for a future. I see the baggage some of these youth bring to my classes due to a host of contributors such as heavy debt, issues with the legal system, broken homes, abuse, etc, etc. However even with all of those bags, I see the hope for a better, brighter tomorrow and it is that light that churns inside me to be the very best I can be at teaching, counseling, coaching, listening, pushing, driving or whatever mode I have to slide into to guide these young minds, our future, in a productive direction.
Those that know me know I also have worked with many thousands of jail and prison inmates in a prison ministry so I get to see the pale underside of society; a society where nobody wants to go or even think about but it is a harsh reality in today's world. I can look at specific seats in my class room where young men now residing in prison that sat in that seat under my tutelage and it both frustrates and angers me at the waste of opportunity for bad choices made.
Thus, you can see how Ms. Goshay's piece pierced my heart this morning in reading it for I read it as my wife and I finished our morning devotional and Bible reading and prayer. I read from the book of Esther chapter 4 where Mordecai, in moving Esther to approach the king to plead the case for saving the Jewish people from the decree he had issued, told Esther that it was possible she was brought to this royal place in her life "for such a time as this." So for such a time as this in 2012, perhaps God intended me to put these thoughts to print this morning.
Read the link below but not as villianizing a person irrespective of the crime, though it is deplorable, but read the link thinking twenty years ahead and ask the question, "if you only knew then what you know now?" There are myriad things at 20 years old knowing what I know now I would do differently and most of that would be a better father and husband and to the people God clustered around me through the meandering of my life. I find it simply astounding at this stage of my life to glean a quality of joy I have never experienced in all aspects of my life be it with friends, thousands of students, thousand of inmates, family, my church home and family, my singing ministry, linkages with long ago friends via FB and the opportunity to use FB as a platform to discuss and proclaim Christian principles on real world issues as well as to encourage people that are hurting, angry or dismayed. All of those intricate connections provide me with a joy I have never before savored in my life as I do each day now.
For the young man and the other two others now poisoned for such a stupid crime Ms Goshay writes about, I only ache inside for I know first hand that the shadow of that crime will never leave them in looking for a job, wanting a better life, better friendships. I see it everyday and was reminded yet again yesterday by a young student, an excellent young man, that in a weak moment his "friends" allowed himself to get into a situation that will haunt him and cost him for years to come. Yes there are regrets and apologies but a bad choice has generational implication. I plead with my students in word and example to examine the "friends" they cluster with and seek to rid themselves of those friend that will pull them back into the mud by trading up for friends that will stretch them and push them higher toward the sunlight of their potential. There are no bad decisions I believe; only bad choices for at my age I have learned that life is about choosing a right direction.
So to all that will read this this day, please, please, please think before you leap. Think about life with a twenty year focus when you have children and the example you want to provide for them and to be in a society where you are productive, contributive and welcomed as a positive part of that culture. I want to thank Ms. Goshay for her writing and how it drilled into my heart. The ground is fertile for my students that I am blessed to work with and stay in contact with for my greatest motivation for remaining linked with my students is to be a solid wall they can lean against when the winds of life blow hard to aim a student in a wrong direction. THINK TWENTY YEARS FROM NOW, please!
Please read the link: http://www.cantonrep.com/opinion/columnists/x720912246/Charita-Goshay-If-you-only-knew-then-what-you-know-now
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