THE END OF THE STORY?

"Twenty-three years ago, at the age of 19, I shot and killed a man. I was a young drug dealer with a quick temper and a semi-automatic pistol."


"Like many of you, growing up, I was an honor roll student, a scholarship student, with dreams of becoming a doctor. But things went dramatically wrong when my parents separated and eventually divorced."   

These are the words of Shaka Senghor spoken during a TED talk I viewed while on the treadmill today.  Got me to thinking about how divorce can impact a kid's life. This guy shot and killed someone.  It doesn't get much worse than that.  It's interesting that while in prison, a note from his son got him back on track.  His life was turned around by three actions;

"I had to acknowledge that I had hurt others. I also had to acknowledge that I had been hurt. The second thing was apologizing. I had to apologize to the people I had hurt. Even though I had no expectations of them accepting it, it was important to do because it was the right thing. But I also had to apologize to myself. The third thing was atoning. For me, atoning meant going back into my community and working with at-risk youth who were on the same path."  

Click HERE to view this 12 minute talk.



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