Snippet of Forgiveness

Life, like self-forgiveness, is not about 'self' in my world. I took a life and I'll spend the rest of my life doing something about it. If I continued to endure the deep, intense remorse as I did for the first 8 years of speaking, I would have committed suicide. The problem with that is, if I'm dead, I can't help anyone. It's wayyyyy harder to live than die after killing someone if you have a heart, that is. Dying would be the easy way out. It takes courage and support to endure. When someone wants to get well, we gotta let them. That's what a MADD Mother taught me. "If they ask for help, we give it", she said. In 1977, as I approached two pedestrian women and a baby in his stroller, I said a prayer, "God, please don't let me hit them." But the prayer came too late. A minute later, one mother injured and one baby, in her arms, dead. The mother's sister ran out of the way of the car that I drove under the influence of alcohol (3 1/2 beers), but the memories are lasting. So many people say, "I'm so glad I never killed anyone when I drove drunk." I would rather hear them say, 'I'm sop glad I never drove drunk'. If we keep reaching out to offenders and shift their hearts, we can beat this thing. People forget what you said or did, but they remember how you made them feel. Forgive them, they know not what they do, but don't fail to raise the warning flag.