環(huán)球英語(yǔ) — 692：Choosing Cotton, Part Two
Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Robin Basselin.
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And I’m Ryan Geertsma. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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Everyone makes mistakes. No person is perfect. However, some mistakes cause very negative effects. One person’s mistake can hurt another person - even if they did not mean to hurt anyone. Jennifer Thompson made a mistake like this. She identified the wrong man as her attacker. However, Jennifer’s mistake began an amazing story - a story of freedom through forgiveness. Today’s Spotlight is the second program in a two part series on the story of Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton.
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In 1985, Jennifer Thompson was the victim of a terrible attack. Her attacker broke into her house. He threatened her with a knife and forced her to have sex with him.
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After the attack, Jennifer escaped. She worked with the police to find her attacker. When the police found a suspect, Jennifer believed that he was her attacker. She identified him twice - from a group of photograph pictures and from a group of people.
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The police and Jennifer were sure they had found the right man - Ronald Cotton. Ronald was charged with Jennifer’s attack and found guilty in court. He was sent to prison for the rest of his life.
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After eleven years, a new scientific test proved that Ronald was NOT the man that attacked Jennifer. A DNA test proved that another man had attacked Jennifer. The man’s name was Bobby Poole. This new evidence changed both Ronald and Jennifer’s lives forever.
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After the new evidence was presented in court, Ronald was released from prison. After many difficult years, he was finally free. Soon, Ronald began a new life. And he was happy.
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However, Jennifer was not so happy after Ronald’s release. She did not fear Ronald like she used to. She knew he was innocent. But, Jennifer felt very guilty. She felt that she was to blame for ruining Ronald’s life.
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You see, Ronald and Jennifer were the same age. And during the eleven years Ronald was in prison, Jennifer did many things. She found love. She married and she had three beautiful children. However, because of Jennifer’s mistake Ronald had none of these things. In a book about their experience, Picking Cotton, Jennifer wrote,
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“He had lost eleven years of time with his family, eleven years of falling in love, getting married, having children...The guilt was so great, I could not breathe.”
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For two years, Jennifer struggled with her emotions of guilt. Then one day, she decided to meet with Ronald. Jennifer was afraid - afraid that Ronald would be angry, afraid that he would hate her, afraid that he would want to punish her. But Jennifer knew this was something she must do.
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So Jennifer invited Ronald to meet her at a local church. Ronald agreed to come. At the meeting, Jennifer and her husband sat together with Ronald and his new wife. Everyone was quiet. Then Jennifer said,
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“Mr. Cotton. If I spent the rest of my life telling you how sorry I am, how much I regret what happened, it would not come close to how I feel. Can you ever forgive me?”
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Jennifer did not know what to expect. Then, suddenly, Ronald spoke. He said,
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“I forgive you. I am not angry at you. I do not want you to spend the rest of your life worrying, thinking I want to punish you, or harm your family...All I want is for us to go on and have a happy life.”
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Jennifer could not believe it. Ronald was so quick to forgive her. And he did it so easily. After Ronald finished talking, he reached for Jennifer’s hand. They put their arms around each other. They hugged and cried. Jennifer wrote about what this event meant to her.
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“I do not think, until I stood weak before Ronald, that I had any idea what forgiveness was or how powerful it could be. Ronald gave me something that I had been searching for since my attack: the gift of forgiveness -- not because I deserved it, but because that is what grace is about.”
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After that day, Jennifer finally felt free. For years, she had been angry - angry at her attacker and angry at herself for making a mistake. For Jennifer, that day was the beginning of her emotional healing. Jennifer accepted Ronald’s forgiveness and was finally able to forgive herself.
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Jennifer was surprised by how quickly Ronald forgave her. She was also surprised by the peace he had. However, Ronald did not always know the peace and freedom of forgiveness. For years he was angry - angry at the court system and angry at Jennifer. In prison, Ronald had no freedom and few choices in life. One day, he got so angry that he wanted to kill someone. In the book “Picking Cotton”, Ronald wrote about a choice he made that day.
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“There was not much I could control about the way my life was going, but I could control my anger. I could make sure anger did not define me.”
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From that time forward, Ronald knew that anger was not the answer to his problems. Ronald knew he needed to be free in his own heart. Ronald explained,
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“Guilt, fear, anger -- they were all their own kinds of prison...”
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Ronald also began to think about Jennifer. Slowly, Ronald began to recognize that he and Jennifer were both victims - victims of Bobby Poole. So, he chose to let go of his anger toward her. In the book “Picking Cotton” Ronald explained,
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“In prison, I made a choice to let go of the anger. Since my release, I went to church, and I felt like God had given me a second chance at life...I had to move forward. Anger would have only kept me from moving forward, as if I had never left prison.”
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So, on that day when Jennifer asked Ronald for forgiveness, he was ready. He had already forgiven Jennifer. And he already found his own freedom through forgiveness. But on that day, he knew that Jennifer needed to be free too.
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After Ronald forgave Jennifer, they became very good friends. They have a very UNUSUAL history. But their shared experience of forgiveness is the base of their strong friendship. Today, Ronald and Jennifer travel to many places and talk about memory, witness identification and the court system. They want to help make the justice system better - so that other innocent people do not suffer like Ronald.
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They also speak and write about forgiveness. And they hope other people can learn from their story and find their own forgiveness.
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Today’s program will close with the words of Ronald and Jennifer. They wrote these words for the National Public Radio program called “This I Believe,”
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“I believe in forgiveness — the kind that has the power to release a person from a place of anger and hate, to a place of peace.”
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“I also believe in the healing power of forgiveness. I had gone to prison an angry man...But that kind of emotion was keeping me a prisoner in my own private prison. I had to let the hate go, and learn to live and forgive.”
