A Father.

This week while my daughter Meghan and I was in the Living Room, she put YouTube on the telly, and it was court room clips of people who had murdered in America and the father lunges at the guilty man who killed his daughter. Most of the time, the father or uncle didn’t get to the killer, but it was fantastic when they did! We watched about ten of them, then she changed it to what followed next.

We watched it in silence, it was a court in America, there they are allowed to speak, both sides the guilty person and the victims or their families. This was a Muslim Man he speaks to the man who killed his son, by stabbing him to death.

The father gives a long, clear speech. He speaks in a calm way, his voice is not raised, his body language is not aggressive, he is allowed to say all that is on his mind and in his heart.

Then, from his heart, out through his mouth is forgiveness to the killer of his Son. WOW! That is deep. The Father says, “My Wife is dead and now my son,” Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, the dead Son also as siblings. The Father says to the killer, “I wish I could hug you,” And with a tissue in his hand he reaches out to the young man, the young man takes the tissue from him, and as their hands connect the father brings him closer and they hug!

It was at that point, I always think of a sports match or event, when the winner and the looser hugs, one heart is broken and the other is elated. This was a long proper hug, one giving forgiveness and the other receiving it, but now full of regrets. Seriously, I’ve been hurt in my life, and even though now I have forgiven the person, I don’t know if I could hug him this way, this close, this long. For me forgiveness took years and years, I would feel like I’ve forgiven him, then I would feel like I’ve slipped back into not forgiving him. But thankfully a day did arrive when I finally did forgive him one hundred percent.

This father, didn’t have years, he gave him the gift of forgiveness. The killer cried, as he hugged the father, then as they still hugged, other members of the father’s family came and showed their support to the old man and the boy, then the killers parents came over to them and they too hugged as his Mum said to the family, “Thank you.” As she too is heartbroken because of what her son has done.

The killer, then goes back to his seat and weeps some more. He then gives his speech to the court and to the father. “I have a daughter who is four years old…..”

There are many clips of the video on YouTube, some versions are longer some very short, one is titled, “Emotional Raw Court Footage with Father of murdered Pizza delivery,” By Know Bro, it has thirteen thousand likes and the other video is by WP Washington Post has ten thousand views, and it is titled, “Why This Father Hugged The Man Who Helped Kill His Son.”

The young killer is sentenced to thirty-one years.

Salahuddin Jitmoud age just 22. RIP.