I have a client who is in jail awaiting trial. He has been my client for over a year. His situation is typical of many young black men in Houston. Charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, he is facing a lengthy prison sentence. I remember speaking with him about his decision to go to trial. One of the reasons he stated for wanting to go to trial, besides asserting his innocence, was that his mother was ill and he wanted to see her before she died. Our trial is set for November of this year.
When I got to my office this evening from visiting clients in jail, I discovered I had a message from my client's mother. Prior to today, I had never spoken to my client's mother. Nor had I ever received a phone call from her. So, I immediately called her back. My client's sister answered the phone and politely asked me to call her mother on a cell phone because the house phone could not reach the room that contained her mother's bed. His sister told me that their mother was bed-ridden and could not come to the phone. I called back on the cell phone and I got his mother. Immediately a great feeling of respect came over me. Feeling that this was the right response to her, I consciously tried to show her as much respect as I could without making her feel awkward. My heart SUSTAINED! my feeling that I needed to slow down and spend time meeting her need for information about her son. Her health had failed her and she was now facing death. She deserved all of the respect I was capable of giving. As I reflect on my day, the situation makes me think about how far we as a nation have strayed from the path.
Our country is at a cross roads. Perhaps one of the greatest potential social reforms in the last fifty years may be lost because of disrespect and politics. Universal health care for all Americans may be sacrificed on the altar of political expedience. I used a story in a closing argument of a previous case that I remembered from my childhood - "butterbeans and cucumbers." I used the story to achieve jury nullification. When I was a child, an elderly neighbor was taking vegetables from my father's vegetable garden without permission (he was taking butterbeans). I saw him one day and ran to tell my father. To my surprise, the next day my father had me accompany him to pick vegetables from a section of his garden that our elderly neighbor could not reach (the cucumbers grew along a different side of the fence). My father placed the vegetables in a bag and had me bring them to the neighbor with the message "Anytime you need some more, feel free to come right over and help yourself."
There was a time when America would seize the stethoscope, mend wounds and champion the cause of the less fortunate. There was a time when we showed respect to the elderly and afforded them the opportunity to maintain their dignity. Service of others was held in high esteem. Now, politics and selfishness rule the day. Politics are stifling information and debate at town hall meetings. (Video). Politics will rob us of life and the pursuit of happiness. Politics are blinding us from the path of charity we trod in decades past. We have strayed far from the path.
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