Second Chance Flower

I purchased this Amaryllis Red plant well before Christmas so it would bloom at Christmas. It did and was beautiful. After the flowers died I kept the plant alive with some care in hope that it will bloom again. Now that is happening with the first of three or four buds blooming. Giving the plant a second chance paid off.

Often people are not given a second chance and, if they are. thought less for it. The headlines of today’s Sunday newspaper reads: “Convicted attorneys are still practicing.” It makes it sound like lawyers convicted of any small or large crime should never be able to practice law again, even though they have served their sentence and be reinstated by the bar. I would have felt the same discrimination if the headline had read: “Convicted McDonald’s workers are still working in fast food business.” To give a person who has a criminal record a second chance is frowned on in our society.

As part of the Milwaukee 14 nonviolent action in 1968 I was convicted on three felony counts. Since I had taken a political action, destroying 1A draft records, my convictions were not taken as seriously as an ordinary crime. However, I did feel a touch of the discrimination and whenever feeling out a job application felt the need to say, that although my conviction was for burglary, arson and theft, it was for a political act of civil disobedience to which I did not try to escape.

Tonight on the news there was a story about the capture of a bank robber. The police chief pointed out who the man was a ‘poster person’ for the failure of early release program he had qualified for in a previous bank robbery. What the police chief did not mention but the news did, was that the man rob banks for his drug habit. This time he will get a longer sentence with no early release but will he get the treatment for his drug habits and skills for a job. I doubt it, and even if he does he will face certain discrimination by society when he returns.

Discrimination based on criminal record, race, religion, sexual orientation, illnesses, and gender is rapid in our society. One can only hope, pray and act so that today’s discrimination headline in the newspaper in the future will not be tolerated.

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