Just Mercy

I finally finished reading Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson.  This book is revelatory in it's simplicity, and captivating.  I've had the book for a couple of years, purchased after I saw his TED talk.  Later I heard him on the Pass the Mic Podcast. In April, I attended the opening of the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. 

Timing is everything.

This book shook me in many ways.  Firstly, I was (and still am) woefully ignorant regarding mass incarceration and the rampant injustice experienced by the poor in this nation. The book just gave me a taste of what happens every day to those caught in this system without financial resources.

In reading the stories of those wrongfully accused, wrongfully imprisoned, sentenced too harshly, whose innocence was hushed up and critical evidence ignored, I experienced feelings of anger, hopelessness and betrayal. But within the tempest of feelings something else happened… a seed planted long ago began stirring. The shell cracked and the first buds began to breach the surface of the earth. That seed began with a dream some fifteen years ago, a seed regarding a way forward with respect to the healing of traumatic experiences in community. 

It’s a bit too early for me to share the dream, but I can tell you that this blog will explore the importance of family and healthy community, personal stories, food and nurture, the importance of beauty and creativity and simple ways to build and support healthy brain development. The methodologies here will seem at times to be too simple, too small, too foolish... But that's ok. A small start can lead to lasting change.