A Story of Grace & Forgiveness

Sycamore Row, by John Grisham, takes place in rural Missisippi in the late 1980s.  (Spoiler Warning: this column tells how this novel ends.  Do not read if you do not want to see how the plot unfolds.)  Seth Hubbard commits suicide by hanging himself from a sycamore tree.  Seth was 71 years old and had terminal lung cancer.  Seth was a very private person, and no one had any idea how wealthy he was.

In his last will, he leaves 90% of his estate to his housekeeper, a black woman named Lettie in her 40s, receives his house and 200 acres around his house.  His last will specifies that his ex-wives, children and grandchildren are to receive nothing.  He leaves 5% to his church, and 5% to his long lost brother Ancil who has not been seen in decades.

His estate is worth over $24 million.  So his last will is challenged in court by his children who were included in the previous will.  They suggest that the housekeeper was sleeping with Seth, which she denies.  She knew nothing about his lumber and furniture businesses, and had no idea of how wealthy he was.

As you might imagine, people start coming to Lettie Lang, the black housekeeper, in a very friendly way, as soon as they hear that she’s going to receive a lot of money.  The attorney representing Seth’s estate, Jake Brigance, discovers that at one time, Lettie’s family owned the 200 acres that Seth’s will gave to Lettie.  The land changed hands in 1930, but they cannot find out why her grand-father sold the land to Seth’s father, or why all of Lettie’s family left that part of Mississippi and moved to Chicago.

Jake hires a private investigator, to try to track down his long lost brother, Ancil.  Finally, they find him living in Juneau, Alaska, where he’s a bartender who gets paid in cash under the table.  Ancil gives a videotaped deposition in which he tells his story:

When Ancil and Seth were children, their father required them to work hard picking cotton, taking care of the farm animals and other chores.  Late one night, they heard their father leave the house and drive up the road.  They sneak out of the house & follow him on their bicycles.  They hide in the woods, and see their father and other white men beat up a black man named Sylvester Rinds.  Then the white men hang Sylvester from a sycamore tree.  A few days later, their father buys the 200 acres from Sylvester’s widow.  But Sylvester’s family still lived at the edge of the land, near the river, until the sheriff and Seth’s father kick them off, and burn the houses of the black families.  So Sylvester’s family all leave the area, except for a baby girl who was adopted by another black family. 

This girl grows up knowing she was adopted, but knowing nothing about her real family or why they left Mississippi.  Years later, the girl, now a young woman, gets married & has a daughter, named Lettie – the same Lettie who eventually is hired by Seth to be his housekeeper.  Remember that Lettie did not know the story of what happened to her grandfather Sylvester.

When this all comes out in the trial, the jury rules in favor of Seth’s last will, the will that leaves 90% of his estate to Lettie.  After the trial, Ancil returns to the place where he grew up, and shows them the sycamore tree where Sylvester was hung –the same sycamore tree that Seth used to hang himself. 

Ancil attends a picnic on the grounds near the sycamore tree, where he meets Lettie and her family.  Ancil tells Lettie that he’s very sorry for what his father & the other white men did when they killed Lettie’s grand-father Sylvester.  Lettie says, That happened a long time ago, and we should leave that all in the past.  In other words, she forgives Ancil and his family for hanging her grandfather.  Ancil meets Lettie’s children who express the same sentiment.

Jesus said, For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.  (Matthew 6:14-15)  Jesus also told the story of the prodigal son who was forgiven by his father. 

In Sycamore Row, Seth’s will was his attempt to make amends for his father’s role in the lynching of Lettie’s grandfather.  Ancil apologized when he met Lettie and her family.  Lettie and her family responded graciously.  It’s a tremendous story of grace and forgiveness.

The Food Stamp Challenge

“Dad, we’re almost out of food here.  Will we have enough”

Last year, Ivan Herman wanted to know firsthand: what was it like to worry about food and to struggle to feed your family?  To find out, Herman, his wife Susan and their 2 children ate the way they would if they were earning just $23,000 a year and surviving on food stamps.  Their church has a food pantry, and Herman wondered, how do all those families get by on the other days of the month? 

One evening last year, he brought up the idea of the “Food Stamp Challenge: with his wife, as a way of getting his family to think differently about food.  The Food Stamp Challenge is a commitment encouraged by some, of intentionally eating on a food stamp budget for a set period of time, usually a week or a month.  His family agreed to do it for 40 days,

They cleared out their pantry, basically starting from scratch.  The Herman family, Ivan, Susan, and their 2 children, ages 7 and 3, lived on a food budget of $396 per month.  That was the amount they calculated they’d be eligible for in good stamps if one adult worked full-time, 40 hours per week earning $11.50 per hour.  In this imaginary scenario, the other parent was assumed to be caring for the children and an elderly parent who lives nearby.  In 2012, the federal poverty level for a family of four was $23,050.

For the Herman family, this budget meant:

            -Spending about $1.10 per person per meal.

            -Eating, most of the time, no meat or fish.

            -Cooking from scratch, which tends to be more economical.

-Emptying the refrigerator before daring to go back to the grocery store.  If they    didn’t go to the store, they couldn’t spend more money.

So what did they learn?  He discovered that people on food stamps can’t afford much fresh fruit.  When school let out for spring break, his daughter stayed home, and her not eating 5 meals at school, meant squeezing 5 more meals into the budget.  One day, he snatched a banana from the top of a trash can.  It was sitting on top of a bed of dry paper, and the peel was clean and unbroken.  He put it on the front seat of his car, to save for later in the day.

People from their church approached Herman and confided in a hushed voice, that “I was on food stamps once too.”  One day, a friend walked up to Susan in the church parking lot and handed over a paper bag of food, saying, “Take it.”  Inside was some food and a note.  The food would stretch the meager food money, the friend wrote.  “In my life I have found it easy to be on the giving end of help.  It is hard to ask for help from a friend or family member.  But when your family is in need you have to push aside such pride and be willing to take a helping hand.  So this is our gift to you, some food for thought.”

Honor the Stars and Stripes.

In Japan the emperor, while holding little real power, is viewed by many as the embodiment of the spirit fo their country.  The same is true in several other countries with figurehead monarchies.  But America was built on the idea that all its citizens are equal.  It would do for us to revere any single person.  So instead the United States are symbolized by a flag.  The 4^th of July is a time to re-examine why we fly the flag with pride.

The colors red, white and blue are practically synonymous with patriotism, but it seems that few people remember what they represent.

Red brings to mind COURAGE.  We could all use more of that.  Too few people are willing to sacrifice of themselves, much less give their lives, for any cause, including standing up for America and trying to preserve our freedom and our reputation as a moral nation.  But many brave men and women have shed their blood so we could live in a free country and a safer world.

White stands for PURITY.  But there is very little of that left in the U.S. where ethics are viewed as relative and decency is viewed as out of date.  We’re told to be more “tolerant” of any lifestyle, even if it’s immoral or detrimental to society.

Blue has been used to represent great leaders and kings because it carries a sense of HONOR.  Many of our nation’s social problems are rooted in the fact that we fail to show honor where honor is due.  Children fail to show honor to their parents, and therefore reject the principles of past generations.  Leaders and role models refuse to treat their positions with respect and bring dishonor to themselves.  People of all walks of life decline to treat each other with dignity, and we end up with problems like racism and fanaticism. 

When we honor America as a land of freedom and equality, we should also show reverence to the national symbol.  The Stars and Stripes stand for the foundational principles of America and the American people, not the government which is constantly changing.  If you want to protest a government decision, go ahead but don’t desecrate our heritage by burning the flag.  Your freedom of speech should stop when you attack and undermine the source of freedom.

So when you see an American Flag flying this week, remember that it’s not just an ancient collection of shapes and colors flapping in the wind, but a reminder of the high price of freedom, and the responsibilities that freedom holds.  Anyone who truly cares about courage, purity and honor will salute the flag.