by The other day I was watching a Parole Board Review show on television where we, as viewers, were taken inside a parole hearing for inmates at a New Jersey state prison.
As I sat there and watched the inmates interact with the parole board I wondered why the inmates weren’t more reverent and respectful to the men sitting in judgment of them.
When the head of the parole board asked one inmate what he wanted from the parole board, one could not help but wonder why the inmate didn’t say: “I want mercy and faith from you. Mercy that you know I am repentant and I know I did the wrong thing wrong; and faith in me that you know I won’t repeat if you parole me.”
If that inmate had said something like that to the parole board he would have fared better in the end.
Instead of asking for mercy and faith he continued to insist he had done nothing wrong and that the world owed him an early release date because he was such an “asset to the community.”
If you ask for mercy and faith from others — that means you must first have regret for your deeds and compassion for your victims — for mercy demands regret and faith requires compassion.
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