FORGIVENESS: SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN

 

A few weeks ago, while hammocking at my campsite, I read Alex Mar’s “Seventy Times Seven, A True Story of Murder and Mercy,” and it has made a lasting impression on me. I thought about the time the school principal dropped off a list of prisoners for me to TABE (Test of Adult Basic Education). When I examined the names my first impulse was circular-filing it and questioning the task: “Why am I evaluating a bunch of 50- to 60-year-old men who are juvenile-lifers? They’re doing ALL DAY!” Instead, I said nothing. I did my job. Over 12 years ago, us corrections teachers eliminated prisoners with life sentences from our class rosters—no more lifers in our prison GED programs throughout the State of Michigan. I had heard about sweeping changes in the juvenile justice system but had no clue as to how it would impact the men I had assessed. Incidentally, only one inmate refused the TABE; a year later, he was within a week of his freedom when he died in his cell from Covid.

Back to Mar’s book: She retells the life story of Paula Cooper, her crime at the age of 15, how the juvenile-justice system evolved during her prison sentence, the life of Ruth Pelke, the correspondence between Paula and Bill Pelke, Ruth’s grandson (who publicly forgave Paula and dedicated the rest of his life to ending capital punishment), Paula’s perps, and so many more. There’s Victor Streib, a professor of criminal law specializing in juveniles charged with homicide. And there’s Watt Espy, a traveling salesperson (security systems, then cemetery plots) who visited courthouses and prisons, cataloging every death sentence carried out in the U.S. (10 years of research, over 13,600 executions). And, yes, like I said, so much more… the prosecutor, the judge, the jury, Paula’s supporters, the victim’s family…

In her prologue, Mar writes: “The act of forgiveness… is more alien and requires something tougher: a belief that none of us is solely defined by the worst thing we have ever done. That each of us remains human, sometimes in spite of our actions. And that sometimes our actions are a response to forces larger than ourselves.”

Forgiveness is not easy. Forgiving ourselves is harder. “Seventy Times Seven…” might help. A definite read.