Friday, March 5, 2010

Mixed up thoughts

I was going to put how I have been sick with bronchitis all week. With all these new meds added to the old ones. I've been inside except to the doctor. I missed the Y all week, church, other appointments and now my grandkids. Really stinks to be sick.
But, I received a call today from the USAG office. Sentencing for the man who assaulted my dad will be in 19 days. Although we have waited for this day, now that it is definite, it is also sad. How a man let one moment of anger ruin the rest of his life as well as ours. And his own family. Dad will never be the same. But, nothing I do will fix that. This man will never be the same either. He can get better. He can, if he lets God in and allows Him to help him.
I have forgiven this man, I feel sorry for this man, but I also feel the need for him to pay the price for his crime.
I am not angry. I am not happy to see him "get his". I do believe you have to be held accountable and responsible for your decisions and actions. Even if these actions are out of character for you.
This man does not seem like someone who goes around beating up feeble old men. I think there were probably a variety of things that contributed to his actions. These actions resulted in a broken and shattered humorous bone at the shoulder joint, banged up head, and emotional trauma to my 82 yr. old father. My father is in the final stage of dementia. He was in the hospital to get behavior meds under control.
Yes, he was aggressive when he was admitted. However, at the time of the incident, he was ready to come home. His meds had him stabilized and he was back to his "normal" self.
The attack was unprovoked. I know this because I have watched the video of the attack myself. I watched a few times. I just couldn't believe it was actually happening.
There wasn't a trial. The man plead guilty. Now it is time for sentencing. We will be going. I don't know if we will say how this has affected us or not. We gave our statements of it's impact to the USAG office and the judge has set the date for sentencing.
I hope and pray this never happens to anyone ever again. I know it probably will. But, I still hope and pray.

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