“What an incredible story... abduction and escape is only half of this story. The rest deals with traumatic aftershock...and the long, painful road to become whole again. There's refreshing honesty in these pages as Debbie reveals her own fierce struggles and mistakes so others can gain insight and courage.” Sister Helen Prejean Author of Dead Man Walking.
No one in the country can forget the controversy stirred over Sister Helen Prejean's book, Dead Man Walking. The book's chilling true story and the subsequent movie, starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon, focused the entire world on the horrific crimes committed by Robert Willie and Joe Vacarro in Louisiana in 1980. For most of us, Dead Man Walking awakened our own conflicted feelings and beliefs about the extremes of crime and punishment .
For Debbie Morris, it reawakened the nightmare she had been living with since surviving an unspeakably brutal experience at the hands of the man who was the subject of Dead Man Walking. While the rest of us debated the ethics of executing a man clearly guilty of heinous rape, torture and murder, Debbie Morris found she had a life-changing decision to make. Keep silent about her terrifying experience as a teen-ager, or share her story with the world — make a private pain a public revelation. In a dauntless act of faith and courage, she chose to speak.
The path Debbie has walked since the summer night in 1980 when she was kidnapped, raped and held for thirty hours is the story her audiences most want to hear. It's a story of unfathomable courage in the face of absolute terror as, after her escape, she helped police first save the life of the young man she was with the night of her abduction, and then eventually capture and convict both Willie and Vacarro. More importantly, Debbie Morris' story, is a powerful testimony of forgiveness and redemption on a road of spiritual, emotional and physical recovery littered with alcohol abuse, depression and panic attacks. Her journey back to wholeness eventually brought her to teaching special needs children and a solid, fulfilling family life with childhood friend, Brad Morris.
Debbie's story, first told publicly on PBS Frontline, proved so inspirational she was encouraged by many people, including Sister Helen Prejean, to write about it. Forgiving The Dead Man Walking was published in 1998. Since the publication of the book, Debbie Morris has appeared on the Today Show, Leeza, The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder, Focus on the Family, and National Public Radio's Fresh Air, among others. She has been featured in Ladies Home Journal, Marie Claire and Today's Christian Woman and many other of the country's most popular home, women's and Christian lifestyle magazines.
Today, Debbie Morris is a highly sought speaker at conferences and retreats across the country, including Women of Faith conferences. In 2001 she appeared with Dr. James Dobson on Focus on the Family. The subject of forgiving—how to forgive, when to forgive, why to forgive, has become a topic of increasing spiritual interest across mainstream America, transcending religious affiliation. Debbie's mission is to share her transformational story of healing and grace, one she prays will help others discover the same life-altering power and freedom generated by the act of forgiveness.
AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY TO FORGIVENESS
FORGIVING THE DEAD MAN WALKING
DEBBIE MORRIS, ( speaker and author)
THURSDAY, MAY 1ST, 6:30-9:00 p.m.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH WORSHIP CENTER
138 S Washington Street
Prattville, AL
Tickets are $ 5:00 at Lifeway Christian Store or First Baptist Church
For more information, call church office at 334 365 0606
10.4.08
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WHAT'S IN THE BROWN PAPER BAG?
What's In the Brown Paper Bag ?
By Luis Ramirez #999309
I'm about the share with you a story who's telling is long past due. It's a familiar story to most of you reading this from death row. And now it's one that all of you in "free world" may benefit from. This is the story of my first day on the row.I came here in May of 1999. The exact date is something that I can't recall.I do remember arriving in the afternoon . I was placed in a cell on H-20 wing over at the Ellis Unit in Huntsville, Tx.
A Tsunami of emotions and thoughts were going through my mind at the time. I remember the only things in the cell were a mattress, pillow, a couple of sheets, a pillow case, a roll of toilet paper ,, and a blanket .. I remember sitting there, utterly lost.The first person I met there was Napolean Beasley. Back then, death rowprisoners still worked . His job at the time was to clean up the wing and help serve during meal times. He was walking around sweeping the pod in these ridiculous looking rubber boots. He came up to the bars on my cell and asked me if I was new.. I told him that I had just arrived on d/r.
He asked what my name is. I told him., not seeing any harm in it. He then stepped back where he could see all three tiers. He hollered at everyone, "There's a new man here. He just drove up. His name is Luis Ramirez."When he did that, I didn't know what to make of it at first. I thought I had made some kind of mistake.
You see ? Like most of you, I was of the impression that everyone on d/r was evil. I thought I would find hundreds of "Hannibal Lecter's in here. And now , they all knew my name. I thought "Oh well," that's strike one. I was sure that they would soon begin harassing me. This is what happens in the movies after all.Well, that's not what happened .
After supper was served. Napolean wasonce again sweeping the floors. As he passed my cell, He swept a brownpaper bag into it. I asked him "What's this"? He said for me to look inside and continued on his way . Man, I didn't know what to expect. I was certain it was something bad. Curiosity did get the best of me though. I carefully opened the bag. What I found was the last thing I ever expected to find on death row, and everything I needed. The bag contained some stamps, envelopes notepad, pen, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, tooth brush, a pastry, a soda, and a couple of Ramen noodles. I remember asking Napolean where this came from ?He told me that everyone had pitched in . That they knew that I didn'thave anything and that it may be a while before I could get them.
I asked him to find out who had contributed . I wanted to pay them back. He said, "It's not like that . Just remember the next time you see someone come here like you.You pitch in something ?"I sat there on my bunk with my brown paper bag of goodies, and thought about what had just happened to me. The last things I expected to find on death row was kindness and generosity. I thought of how many times I had seen "good people" of the world, pass by some man, woman, or child holding a sign that read, "Hungry, or will work for food." I'm guilty of the same. I just passed them by.
By the end of the block, or upon reaching my destination . That poor, hungry, tattered, and perhaps dirty , soul had been forgotten. Lost among my daily challenges and struggles with life. Yet, here on death row Among the worst of the worst . I didn't have to hold up a sign.They knew what I needed and they took it upon themselves to meet thoseneeds.They did this without any expectation of reimbursement or compensation. They did this for a stranger, not a known friend. I don't know what they felt when they committed this act of incredible kindness. I only know that like them,, twelve "good people" had deemed me beyond redemption.
The only remedy that these "good people" could offer us, is death. Somehow what these "good people" saw and what I was seeing didn't add up. How could these men, who just showed me so much, humanity, be considered the "worst of the worst."It chills me to my core when I think about it. Those twelve "good people" were given this enormous God like responsibility . They had to decide who lives, and who dies. The state of Texas gave them this responsibility. But they didn't give them any God like training.
I'm sure that they all meant well. They probably thought, as the DA and judge told them, that they were doing their civic duty. I personally have never considered murder a civic duty. That aside, how many times have we gotten this wrong ? I'm on the inside looking out now. I have that advantage over you. So I can tell you this. I have yet to meet a man here who I feel is beyond redemption. If you took a good look, and I invite you to do that, You may just come to realize how often you have been wrong.Ever since Napolean was executed, for a crime he committed as a teen. I've wanted to share this story with his family.
I've never been able to find anyone with their address. If anyone out there can share this with them, I would appreciate it very much. I would like for them to know that their son was a good man. One who I will never forget. I want for them to know how sorry I am that we as a society failed them and him. I still find it ridiculous that we as a people feel that we cannot teach or love our young properly. I'm appalled at the idea that a teen is beyond redemption, that the only solution that we can offer is death. It's tragic that this is being pointed out to the "good people" by one of the "worst of the worst." God help us all.What's in the brown paper bag? I found caring, kindness, love, humanity, and compassion of a scale that I've never seen the "good people" in the free world show towards one another.
Luis Ramirez# 999309
Executed October 20, 2005
http://www.deathrow-usa.us/luis_ramirez.htm
Luis Ramirez
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10 comments:
Who gives forgiveness for murder?
July 10, 2007 - Victoria Advocate
BY DUDLEY SHARP
Cornelus Garza told the murderer of his wife, Janie Elizabeth, "I don't forgive you"("You should be locked up forever," July 07, 2007, Victoria Advocate).
Even if he wanted to forgive the murderer, does he have that right?
It is not up to Mr. Garza to forgive the murderer. It is up to the principal party harmed - Janie Elizabeth. No one disputes that all of those who loved and knew Janie Elizabeth were terribly wronged and hurt, severely, by her murder.
If my uncle was robbed, what does it mean for me to forgive the robber? If anything, it is an insult to the harm my uncle has suffered.
The act of forgiveness is quite unique.
If we go by biblical instruction, it includes that the wrongdoer confess his wrong, find honest sorrow and remorse and state that he will do all he can to not harm again - to change his ways, prior to any forgiveness being given, by the specific party harmed.
To forgive those who have not repented is to give approval of what they have done, while rejecting the importance of responsibility and atonement. It would not be mercy, but insult.
Murder is unique, both biblically and humanistically.
Biblically, the crime of murder is viewed as, exactly, a crime against God, because man is made in the image of God. It is an eternal crime. Murderers can take responsibility for their crimes, they can work to change, but there can be no atonement for murder.
Humanistically, meaning, with no expectation of a godhead or afterlife, it is only this earthly life that we have, so murder curtails an even greater portion of our lives.
Can murderers be forgiven by God? Biblically, the answer is clearly yes. Can murderers receive true forgiveness on earth? The answer is clearly no.
Contact Dudley Sharp at sharpjfa@aol.com. Sharp has appeared on ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN, C-SPAN, FOX, NBC, NPR, PBS and many other TV and radio networks, on such programs as Nightline, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, The O'Reilly Factor, etc., has been quoted in newspapers throughout the world and is a published author. A former opponent of capital punishment, he has written and granted interviews about, testified on and extensively debated the death penalty.
I can't help but wonder just who died & left Mr. Sharp the moral arbiter of who is (and, implicitly, isn't) entitled to express forgiveness.
As if that particular expression of arrogance weren't enough, it seems to me that Mr. Sharp is furthermore being inconsistent -- either that, or victims' rights are meaningful only as long as the victims avail themselves of such rights exclusively in a manner that Mr. Sharp finds acceptable & in accordance with his interpretation of the Bible.
Of course it is entirely up to Mr. Garza to choose to withhold or bestow an act of grace upon the individual who murdered his wife. He may not be able to forgive on behalf of his wife -- but he is certainly entitled to forgive the harm done to himself. All murder victim -family members can avail themselves of this act without being insulted by some self-righteous, bible-thumping little snot who presumes that he speaks for them.
Lisa
Thank you for your comments.
Anyone is entitled to forgive in any manner they feel is appropriate. I never stated or implied otherwise.
The issue is are there any moral or ethical dilemmas present, within the context of murder and forgiveness?
Do we blindly forgive those people who continue to rape and murder, who have no remorse and who don't ask for forgiveness? I certainly hope not. But, some seem to just jump on the forgiveness bandwagon, immediately, without that reflection.
Should they?
Of course, atheists and people of very different faiths have their own foundations for forgiveness. That is why I said "if" we go by biblical instruction and that is also why I said biblically or humanistic, both of which imply different basis for consideration.
I used biblical instruction as one method of review, never implying that it was the only one, or that my words were universally correct. Quite the opposite, which was implicit with the humanistic wording.
I also specifically included that many others were harmed by the murder, but that only the victim could forgive the actual murder.
Both direct the reader to an obvious conclusion that all of those additionally harmed are, of course, able to forgive the murderer for their harms. I never stated or presumed otherwise. But that is very different than forgiving the murder.
To me, that is clear. But, if you have a different vision, between those different parties, it would have been nice to have read it. Do you?
Thank you for your thoughts.
I'm sorry if I misunderstood you -- I must've been confused by the question you asked in the post to which I responded: "Even if he wanted to forgive the murderer, does he have that right?" My response to that question is: "Unequivocally, yes."
In my view, like other good things in life, to forgive is a strictly personal act; no extraneous moral or ethical dilemmas attach, save the condition that it happen exclusively between any number of informed, consenting adults.
But I am confused by your need to express the hope that "we" don't "blindly forgive those people who continue to rape and murder, who have no remorse and who don't ask for forgiveness". Who are the 'they' who, immediately & sans reflection, jump on the "forgiveness bandwagon" (and really: 'forgiveness bandwagon'... who talks like this?)? And, conversely, I'd like to ask you when was the last time you, or members of your various associations, accepted any murderer's expressions of remorse and pleas for forgiveness as sincere, let alone worthy of consideration?
You continue to assert that forgiveness for the murder is the sole right of the victim. How can I respond to this without seeming condescending as I must remind you that the victim is deceased -- and that, even if s/he were survived by her right(s) (real and perceived), s/he is powerless to avail her/himself of them inasmuch as, for one thing, s/he's a bit preoccupied with... well, being dead? Honestly, Dudley -- why not just say that, in your view, there can be no forgiveness for the act of murder, ever, instead of being so terribly ghoulish and dramatic about it? It's simple, direct, and doesn't call for a long discussion on ethics and morals with people whose opinions you don't respect, anyway.
Now, if you'll forgive me -- my bandwagon's parked outside, and the meter is running.
Lisa
Nuccia: "I'd like to ask you when was the last time you, or members of your various associations, accepted any murderer's expressions of remorse and pleas for forgiveness as sincere, let alone worthy of consideration"
I have seen a few cases where I felt strongly that there was tue sincerity with the remorse and plea for forgivenesss. I hope that is mcuh more often than anyone knows. It is within their heart and mind that it is really known, though.
Nuccia "Dudley -- why not just say that, in your view, there can be no forgiveness for the act of murder, ever, instead of being so terribly ghoulish and dramatic about it? It's simple, direct, and doesn't call for a long discussion on ethics and morals with people whose opinions you don't respect, anyway."
I said that, clearly, in my first post. "Can murderers be forgiven by God? Biblically, the answer is clearly yes. Can murderers receive true forgiveness on earth? The answer is clearly no."
Don't keep that meter running!
Well, this establishes two things, Dudley. 1) That there have been instances when a plea for forgiveness has managed to conform to your standard for sincerity (supposedly, what would allow us to forgive without being subject to the accusation that we're mindlessly jumping on the bandwagon), and 2) Even in instances of this requirement ostensibly being met you'd still leave the decision to forgive up to the deity of your choice.
So why require a show of remorse in the first place, if it's all to no avail -- if it doesn't allow for reconciliation, forgiveness, rehabilitation, and healing? If it's just another hoop you require a condemned person to jump through on the way to the execution chamber, then how does this serve your ends?
Lisa
lisa:
To be clear, my bandwagon comment was specific to those who forgive without any qualification.
In all cases, I presume, the diety would have final word on any eternal forgivenesss. That seems unchanging. In the Christian, faith all sin, is a sin against God, in additon to any earthly context, whereby there is a wrong against persons.
Well, this establishes two things, instances of this requirement ostensibly being met you'd still leave the decision to forgive up to the deity of your choice.
Lisa writes: "So why require a show of remorse in the first place, if it's all to no avail -- if it doesn't allow for reconciliation, forgiveness, rehabilitation, and healing? If it's just another hoop you require a condemned person to jump through on the way to the execution chamber, then how does this serve your ends?"
The end is not mine to serve. We all die.
It is up to all of us to reconcile or rehabilitate ourselves, now or tomorrow, based upon our desire to do so, whether we are being executed today, or in ten years, or whether we are to die of cancer or old age with the same time frames.
Reconciling, forgiveness, etc. are not on some sort of timetable, except during our lifetimes, whatever that may be, for our own circumstance, whenever our lives may be over, be it execution, car wreck, murder, or whatever the circumstance.
I suspect facing execution should focus the mind on that, considerably, based upon what was done to get there.
So, in your view, reconciliation / rehabilitation / forgiveness is exclusively between us and the deity of our choice, as opposed to a person(s)-to-person(s) transaction?
Do I understand you correctly? (And no, I'm not at all sure I do, since that does seem very strange to me).
Lisa
That is not what I meant. My writing above is based on what we do, now, with our lives, in relation to our earthly world and that we never know how much time we have.
You, wrongly, seem to believe that the death penalty somehow vacates rehabilitation or improvement. It never can, because we all die and none of us knows when.
The obligation to rehabilitated and improve ourselves, to redress our wrongs is an important human opportunity, whatever tomorrow may bring.
Well, if the question is what we do now, my suggestion is that we, as a society, address the human rights violations we're guilty of. This would include torture, capital punishment, and excessive imprisonment.
If we do that now, perhaps history will forgive us.
Lisa
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