For some, not very merry

I’m not here to lay a guilt trip on you today.  Christmas Day is the perfect time to enjoy family and friends.  That’s what I’ll be doing, and I hope that’s what you’ll be doing.  All I’m asking is that, as we think of the real meaning for this Christ Child to have made an appearance on our planet, we think beyond our tight little circle.

From where I am, here’s what I can tell you.

Today

There’s a little boy opening gifts who wishes his incarcerated mommy could be there.

There’s a remorseful daughter wishing she hadn’t been manipulated by an angry, divorced mother, to fabricate testimony that put her dad in prison.

There’s a wife wondering whether she should hang on…her husband may never get out.

There’s a husband, trying to be dad and mom, praying for his wife’s early parole.

There’s a set of aging parents hoping they can make a prison visit, if the weather’s good, the driving’s OK, the arthritis isn’t too bad, and there’s money for gas.

There are grandparents who are no longer able to visit, whose hearts are filled with love and yes, confusion, but who don’t want to give up on their own flesh and blood.

There’s a confused and bitter woman who can’t believe that she was able to stop her abusive husband before he killed her…and yet she’s spending the rest of her life in prison.

There’s a man hurting with shame who finds it hard to believe that he screwed up this badly, and who wonders if he’ll ever be free again.

It’s Christmas day.  A day that you and I will worship, laugh, play games, enjoy food and drink with the people we love, and go to bed at the end of the day filled and satisfied.

It ain’t that way for all.

Let’s pray that Jesus’ birth might bring happy conclusions to these and so many other sad stories, starting with a little touch of happiness today.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Half-a-race!

The HFP Drag-Racing Fund-Raiser had the potential of being extremely successful, and could have raised several thousand dollars. Let's just say it was partly successful. For background purposes I'll explain that I was racing a 1963 supercharged Studebaker Lark that has a reputation of being one of the fastest stock Studebakers in drag racing today. The engine was built by one of the finest Studebaker engine mechanics in the country, and the car many times has achieved quarter-mile runs in less than 14 seconds! We promised to make at least ten passes in the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags at Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan, this past weekend, and we asked for pledges ONLY ON THOSE RUNS REACHED IN LESS THAN 14 SECONDS. On Friday, here's how we fared: Run #1 13.936 @ 101.24 mph Run #2 14.027 @ 101.30 mph Run #3 14.091 @ 100.88 mph Run #4 13.805 @ 102.84 mph Run #5 14.058 @ 101.26 mph By the 5th run we discovered that ...
Read more

Gregory John McCormick: 1964-2008

Itchy is dead. The lifeless body of this talented rock musician, whose band Shock Therapy was a popular group especially in Europe, was found in a field in Detroit last Wednesday, November 5. The Wayne County Coroner's office informed father Glenn McCormick that the body of his son Gregory, better known to all of us as Itchy, bore no signs of trauma. Glenn said that Itchy, who had been living at his father's dental lab in Detroit, had been drinking to excess for some time. While the toxicology report has not been released yet, the general consensus seems to be that he drank himself to death. Our agency, while still named INNOCENT, first got involved with Itchy in 2005. The Detroit native, who called Germany his home, got involved in some unfortunate activity that placed him in the Michigan State prison system on a charge of arson of a dwelling. It was really just a bonfire in an alley, but an alleged parole violation placed him in prison for 1-20 years. I personally sat w...
Read more

Three lives, connected by a divine thread

My kids say it should be a book! The Doug, Pat and Mark story is a doozie!   About 25 years ago, while fighting to free Maurice Carter from prison, I read a newspaper column written by Pat Shellenbarger of the Grand Rapids Press on the topic of eyewitness identification. I contacted Pat re that story. That led to a friendship between Doug and Pat that continues to this day.   In subsequent months, Pat would go on to assist me in an investigation into the Maurice Carter case that eventually led to solving the crime.  That particular episode became a chapter in my book about the Carter case, SWEET FREEDOM, published in 2006.   Fast forward to 2009, A New York businessman claims wrongful conviction, and while serving time in a Michigan prison is handed a copy of my book. Mark Hartman, who was also convicted in Berrien County, was amazed at the similarity of these two stories and tried to reach out to me. His letters bounced.   Persisting in his efforts to c...
Read more