Day 44 - Aug 14

I'm late on today's blog post. Sorry.

Jake slept in whilst I got a few things done in the morning. After he awoke, we got busy doing some running around town. He doesn't have appointments on Saturday so we get out-and-about the town. Getting in and out of a taxi is getting a bit easier, but still tough.

The taxi service in the area is robust, but they are totally unreliable should you reserve cab by phone. This morning was the second time a cab didn't show - after three follow-up phone calls. Very frustrating to be trapped because you can't get transportation. We finally caught a bus and headed into town where we could then find a taxi

The taxi we found in town was parked about 18" off the curb. Too close to get a wheelchair one the street and next to the cab and yet too far away for Jake to transition from his chair on the sidewalk into the cab. I crouched down between the car and the curb so that Jake could place his hands on my shoulder and use my lap as a transitional seat. He swung from his chair to my lap and from my lap into the car. It wasn't pretty, but hey, it worked.

Mom flew in today too. We were super excited to be with her again! We went to dinner together and then watched a movie back in the room before checking out for the night.

Another person recently gave me reason to pause and think about hate, evil, and forgiveness. Children are taught hate of others by adults (Mosiah 10:17). Do those who wish to do us harm hate us? I suspect they do. Where did they learn this hatred? It may have been taught to them from the time they were small. A child, teen, or adult may have done my son great harm - harm he will live with for the rest of his life, both mentally and physically - but I will let God judge the intention of those that did him harm.

Regardless of the intentions of those who fight against us, we will defend ourselves. While I believe we have a right and obligation to defend ourselves, I refuse to hate. Even if the people who did this terrible thing to my son are grown men, I do not know their reasoning nor their level of accountability so I refuse to judge their intent or to hate them.

Some may chide my attitude as simple minded and unpatriotic, but I am a person who stands for peace and forgiveness. After working with many people who were filled with hate for others, I have come to believe that our ability to judge another's intent and level of accountability is grossly inadequate.

Can a child do terrible things to others, grow up, change, be a good person, and do much good in the world at large? Of course, we only need consider Alma the Younger. I believe that people grow and change. If not, then God's plan is for nothing. "And the days of the children of men were prolonged, according to the will of God, that they might repent while in the flesh; wherefore, their state became a state of probation, and their time was lengthened, according to the commandments which the Lord God gave unto the children of men.  For he gave commandment that all men must repent; for he showed unto all men that they were lost, because of the transgression of their parents." (2 Nephi 2:21) We're all working through our own weaknesses, challenges, and evil. It is Christ's commentary that it is better for us to work on pulling the beam out of our own eye than it is to focus on the sliver in the eye of another. Paraphrasing one of my favorite authors, Neal A. Maxwell said something like, Having a head full of rocks, we shouldn't be too quick to cast stones at another.