Marching for a cause. A great idea!

There’s a Chinese proverb, says Father Greg Boyle, that says, The beginning of wisdom is to call things by the right name. 

I’m thinking about Fr. Boyle’s explanation this morning, as I’m reading and hearing accounts of kids responding to the school massacre in Florida. In his book, BARKING TO THE CHOIR, Fr. Boyle says, “We want to find the right name for what was done to us, for what turned us around, for what is happening to us now. We all want to find our maximum capacity. And when that desire is strong enough, we find the legs to walk us through the hallway, down the path, on the Good Journey.”

He was referring, or course, to former gang members. But the words also seem to apply to the thousands and thousands of demonstrators who are grabbing headlines today.

God bless these kids, who---unlike many state and federal legislators---have found the right name for what was done to them. They’re now “finding the legs” to keep walking on what is certainly a good journey!

I love to see people marching for good.

I love to see old film clips of the civil rights marches! I loved it when women marched on Washington! I love to see teenagers holding public office holders accountable for their shameful inaction…marching to their state houses, marching to the nation’s capitol, marching to the white house.

My hope, my prayer, is that someday we’ll see this kind of support right here in Michigan, when it comes to issues involving prisoners. Like the topic of guns, prisons and prisoners are not popular, either.

I’m hearing about wrongly convicted persons who served years of prison time for a crime they did not commit, yet cannot collect the money the state promised them.

I’m hearing about prisoners deserving clemency for a variety of very justifiable reasons, yet so far, no hint of a heart by this Governor.

I’m hearing rumbles about parole reform that would include “presumptive parole,” meaning that deserving inmates would get out at their earliest release date. Yet, no action.

May the determination and optimism of these courageous teenagers be contagious!

May God give us the wisdom and the insight to “call things by the right name.” And then to find our legs to walk the good journey!

Unlike the kids, I’m 81, and in, what we politely call, the “sunset years.” But in my mind I’m marching!

Critical issues affecting prisoners, like those touching teenagers, deserve our attention. Now.



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