Think Results NOW: You Are What You Think book 1 – #14: Remorse Disappears With Restitution

You Are What You Think book 1

Article #14

My life is an Excellent Adventure from using “You Are What You Think”

Remorse Disappears With Restitution

REGRET: THE FEELING of being sorry for some fault, act, omission, etc. of one’s own.

Remorse: Deep and painful regret for wrong doing.

These are the dictionary definitions of the two words so many are burdened with, sometimes all throughout their lives.

IN MY PREVIOUS column, I brought out the fact that whatever we did (or didn’t do), it was the best we knew at the time. If we had known better we would have done better.

I also said we should make restitution. It is always possible to make restitution, even though the person we feel we have wronged is no longer living.

This strange story will prove it to you.

MANY CONVICTS suffer from remorse. They can’t see any possibility of rectifying their misdeeds. Some of them have been incarcerated so long they have lost all contact with their families.

Many of their parents have died. These are the ones who feel the pain the most.

Paul was one of the last group. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so miserable with remorse. One day we were discussing it and this is the story he told us:

”WHEN I WAS IN my late teens my mother was slowly going blind” he began.

“She had always been an avid reader. As her sight failed, she frequently asked me to read to her. My father was gone and I was the only child.

“Unfortunately, I was running around with a gang, and I never had time for her. Night after night I left my mother alone in her world of semi-darkness.”

PAUL WAS VISIBLY shaken as he recalled this period from his youth. It was apparent to all of us that he would have given anything to have been able to rectify his thoughtlessness.

“Now it’s too late,” he concluded. “I received word recently that my mother has passed on. I’ll never be able to make up to her for my neglect.

“Paul,” I said, “when anyone has as strong a desire as you to make amends, I don’t think Life would be so cruel as to deny you the chance. I feel sure that some day, in some way, you will be given the opportunity.”

A FEW MONTHS later, Paul was released. About two years went by and I had not heard from him. Then one night I received a phone call from New York.

It was Paul. He had remembered that I lived in Danville.

He said, “Doug, I have a strange story to tell, and you are the only one I can talk to. I think you will be happy for me.

“I HAD BEEN OUT of prison for about a year and was still haunted by my feelings of remorse concerning my mother.

“One day I was out driving when I happened to observe that I was passing a convalescent home. I felt absolutely compelled to stop my car and go in.

“I walked up to the lady at the desk and told her I had a little free time and asked if there was anyone who would like to be read to.

“THE LADY LOOKED at me as if she couldn’t believe her ears ! She told me that there was an elderly woman who was slowly losing her sight. She had loved to read but now could not.

“She showed me to her room,” Paul continued “when I entered it seemed as if she was expecting me. She smiled, handed me a book that was on her lap, and I began reading.

“For the past year I have never failed to visit and read to her less than three times a week. No matter what other desires I may have had nothing deterred me.

“ONE EVENING LAST week as I was reading, I slowly became aware that something was different. I glanced up and saw that she had quietly passed away.

“Doug,” he said, “for a fleeting instant she took on the likeness of my mother, and she was smiling !

“I shook my head, rubbed my eyes and looked away for a moment. When I looked back she was once again the lady I had come to know.

“I KNEW THEN,” concluded Paul, “that my mother had forgiven me. This enabled me to finally forgive myself.”

The former habitual criminal said goodbye, free at last. Time had freed him from the prison with bars. Compassion for a stranger had freed him from the prison of remorse.

His desire to make amends was so strong that Life was compelled to offer him the opportunity.

NOT EVEN THE grave could stand in his way.