NEW YORK – Monday’s segment of CBS’s The Early Show featured the story of one girl who has shown the nation a glimpse of what true forgiveness looks like.
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(Photo: AP/ David Goldman)Kai Leigh Harriott, paralyzed in 2003, wept while speaking at the sentencing of Anthony Warren, who apologized and was embraced by her mother, Tonya David.
Reliving the tale of 7-year-old Kai Leigh Harriott, CBS reporters told of how the then-5-year-old girl gave her plea of forgiveness to a man who paralyzed her for life.
The family hopes that those who watch it, especially Christians, can learn from her heroic example.
"It's kind of hard (to forgive),” Kai told the Early Show reporters, “but as soon as you do it, it's not that hard anymore."
Four years ago, at the age of 3, young Kai was playing on her porch in Dorchester, Mass., with her sister, Aja, when 26-year-old Anthony Warren of Hyde Park fired three gunshots into the air outside the three-decker to scare two women who lived on the first floor after an argument.
Aja, who had a bullet nearly miss her face, grabbed her younger sister and ran inside. When Kai asked her sister to flip her over, the eldest sibling found a pool of blood on her backside.
A bullet had shattered the three-year-old’s spine, keeping her alive but leaving her without feeling from the waist down.
Officers later arrested Warren, but it took about three years for the case to reach the courts.
The paralyzed child, who was five then, attended the hearing of her own will, directly speaking to the culprit while on the stand.
"I forgive you Anthony Warren,” spoke the youth. “What you did to me was wrong, but I still forgive you."
The selfless act touched the heart of the defendant so much that he changed his original plea of “not guilty” to “guilty.”
The event has also helped strengthen the mother of Kai, Tonya David, who has also not held a grudge against the shooter.
"I've never had anger," she explained to CBS News. "I don't know why I was given this cup to drink, but I never had anger for him."
The grieved mother also gave her best wishes to culprit, approaching him after the verdict that sentenced him 13 to 15 years in jail, hugging him, and telling him that God had given him a second chance and that he should take it.
She is also not worried about her daughter. She believes whole-heartedly that God will make a miracle healing for the now wheelchair-stricken child.
“You believe that she’s going to walk again?” asked the CBS reporter.
“Oh, I know it,” concluded the mother.
David has also created a website, She Shall Walk Again, which tells her daughter’s story as well as how to support her and learn about the life of forgiveness.
On the web: SheShallWalkAgain.org.
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artm--
Right on! That is so true. Forgiveness is not for the sake of the one being forgiven. It is setting free the one who is doing the forgiving. Just as receiving forgiveness is for the sake of the one recieving. If I doing something against someone, and I ask for forgiveness, and they don't forgive me...I am forgiven by God. The other person will bear the weight of unforgiveness in their life, and it will destroy them.
wrmhalve--
Forgiveness is a spiritual event--not a physical event. And many times when I sin, I ask for forgiveness, and though I am forgiven, I still bear the physical result of that sin. But my eternal, spiritual punishment has been waived. One day my son got mad at us and went out and purposely wrecked his bike. He spray painted it gold, cut the brake cables, and a number of other things that caused it to be inoperable. I grounded him for 2 days. But I forgave him and I love him with all my heart. I do not hold it against him. But now he has to face the physical consequences of his actions. He now as a bike that he cannot ride. And he will not have one until he, himself, can get the money to buy one.
True, many times God will move supernaturally to change the physical consequences of our actions. But not always. God knows what He's doing in this situation. Maybe jail time is what is needed for this gentleman to realize God's sovereignty.
Many years ago, when we were first married, my wife and I got into a serious argument. She got physical with me, and then called the police on me. And even though I never raised a hand to her, I went to jail. Let me ask you...where's the justice in that? Where's God's mercy and forgiveness? It was right where it needed to be. Because of that, it woke my wife up to realize that she had an anger problem, and she couldn't bear to be away from me. She realized how much she really did love me, and how we both needed to change. Because of that, our whole lifes change 180 degrees. And God performed a miracle in our lives. There is so much more to that story, but if you were to see us today, you would not have believed it. We are getting ready to celebrate our 15th anniversary, and we love each other with an undying love! If I had not been arrested, I seriously believe that we would not be married today. I hope this helps you understand.
If you would like to know more about it, or what God has done in us, I would be happy to give you my email. Or visit me at www.isaiahscry.blogspot.com
Biblical forgivness is not for the sake of the offender, it is for more for the sake of the one offended. Mark 11:25-26 says, " when you stand praying forgive, if you have ought against any, that your father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses,
But if you do not forgive,neither will your father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."
forgivness is an act of love, unforgivness reveals a lack of Gods kind of love. we don't deserve it,but God in His great love forgives us. and God requires that His child forgive others as he has forgiven them.
These precious people forgave that man, but he must still answer for his crime against society and that little girl. May God give them the Miracle they need today, We serve a God of Miracles. art
I think I am missing something here.
When God forgives us of our sin, the punishment is removed. It is by His Grace and Mercy that we walk freely.
So how was forgiveness applied to this man? As I read it he received several years of jail time. What was he spared from?
what a marvelous family! it looks like they have learned GOD's most important lessons. Love, Forgiveness, Serving others, isn't this what JESUS has been trying to teach us all? they have helped that man and his family find their way to GOD if they will accept it. telling their heartbreaking story and setting up a wesite for everyone to be reminded what wonderous healing Faith in JESUS CHRIST awaita all of us. we can overcome our past whatever we have done or had done to us if we will just give ourselves to GOD and live HIS way.