Thanking Consequences

“When you attempted to hire me, I asked if your son was innocent,” Albert Simms, the twelfth attorney Janice Grant tried to hire to defend her only son for the savage rape and murder of sixteen-year-old Melanie Anderson, said. “Why did you lie? I have been practicing law for more than thirty years. You thought I wouldn’t have found out the truth?”

“Your job is to prove reasonable doubt, not innocence or guilt,” she dished back.

“This law firm doesn’t prove reasonable doubt. We prove innocence.”

“That’s not what I wanted to hire you for,” Janice said.

“Well, after examining your son’s history, rap sheet, and life, I suggest you take the deal the District Attorney offered.”

“You don’t believe my son is innocent?” she asks in anger.

Mr. Simms pushed the intercom on the phone on his desk and speak into it, “Sue, tell Sam to bring the files in.”

The door behind her opened, and a man dressed in blue denim overalls pushing an Upline Loop Handle Aluminum hand truck in, three boxes stacked on top of each other. “Where should I put them, Sir?” he asked.

“Beside her,” Mr. Simms points to the left of Janice sitting in front of him.

Sam eased the boxes off the hand truck and hurried out.

“I chose my cases based on innocence. But first, I do an investigation. I went into your community, and someone threw me a bone. Then advised me to follow a trail where I could get more bones. That trail led me to the contents of those boxes.

“So?” she asked shrugging her shoulders.

“The contents of the boxes include reports from all of the Guidance Counselors for the schools your son keeps hopping from. Also, diagnosis and prognosis from Court and school Psychologists and Psychiatrists. Police Reports, Court Transcript from Family, Juvenile, and Criminal Courts. The Victims and their families too. He attended many schools because you keep transferring him from school to school after each incidence of violence towards females. What the hell happened to that child?”

“Why does everybody keeps asking that question?” Janice snaps.

“Can a fire start without a spark?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because of the stuff he saw his father did to me in the past.”

“You don’t like the truth very much, do you?” Mr. Simms asked. “I have spoken to both of his grandparents and other family members. You weren’t the victim. His father was. He was a witness to the murder of his father, which you got away with. His violence towards women is he fighting to save his father. When he looks at these women, he sees you.”

“You could use Insanity as your defense,” Janice suggested.

“This Law firm doesn’t clean up anyone’s mess. Reading and absorbing the contents of those boxes, I agree with the Doctors. At ten years old, I followed a group of boys and vandalized Mr. Chen’s grocery store in my community. My mother beat the crap out of me. I had to work in Mr. Chen’s store for four months after school and Saturdays to repay all of the damages. I borrowed my friend’s calculator and lost it. I had to get an after-school job at twelve years old. My mother made sure I went to work and earned enough money to buy two calculators. She said when we make a habit of borrowing, and if we lose what we borrowed, we will have to buy two. One for myself, and another to replace the one I lost. I don’t borrow anything from anyone again. I pass that lesson on to my children.”

“Your point?” she asked, frustrated.

“There are many instances in my upbringing where I did the wrong things. My mother doesn’t deny me the ramifications of my actions. She said, “when we remove the after-effects from the actions, choices, and decisions of our children, we replace it with chaos and death. She also said everything good and bad we do in life has consequences and rewards, and humans must taste both. The Doctors who examined your son noted no effects or remorse for all of the horrible things he has done. You took the repercussions away from him each time for all his violence towards women by shielding him from his wrongs. How do you live and sleep without a conscience, lady?”

Janice rose, fuming, then cried out, “Bastard!”

“Take the deal the DA is offering. Your son is facing the death penalty if he goes to trial!” Albert called out as she stormed out in anger. “And you are the one responsible for that.”

R Kelly is the latest famous person to go down because of violence towards women, and history has recorded their deeds. He and the many others were denied the consequences of certain actions for a long time.

Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. Ecclesiastes 8:11

So, the law and life had to force-feed them the effects of their actions at a cost to humanity. His ability to feel the after-effects were taken away from him by greedy family members, friends, employees, and others whom he paid. When we take away someone's ability to feel or learn from their harmful or destructive actions, we hurt them, and their victim/s.

Consequences teach valuable life lessons. It also will save and improve lives. Don’t deny your children the knowledge and pain of their mistakes. If you do, you pay the piper along with them and are responsible for the trauma to their victims and families. I know many parents who have sabotage their children’s lives that way. A certain level of freedom is denied to the ones who are alive. The FREE ones are resting eternally in a casket in the cemetery. Either way, we must pay.

I allow my children to taste and feel the byproduct of their actions, choices, and decisions just as I have. I have been on my own from I was fourteen years old. Consequences taught me how to live a good life, stay alive and away from many of life’s perils and pain.

Today, my life and I give thanks to CONSEQUENCES!

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.