Was listening to Paul Harvey the other night on the way home from work...he was telling a story about a 14 year old boy whose stepfather used to beat his little brother...the man would get drunk and beat the crap out of the kid...until one night, with tears in his eyes and shaking like a leaf, the 14 year old boy said, "if you wanna do that again, you're gonna have to come through me....you will never do that again, without coming through me." the beatings stopped... flash forward about 4-5 years...the stepfather is in a longterm care facility...he drank his life away and is dying...the 14 year old boy is now in college...he drives over 200 miles every friday after class to spend time with this dying stepfather...to show grace...to mend a broken relationship...to make sure this man doesn't die alone and unloved...how powerful that forgiveness...i was so impressed.... and then paul harvey said, "and that boy's name, you ask? William Jefferson Clinton. Bill Clinton? Yes, Bill Clinton." wow.
That is an amazing story. When does Paul Harvey come on? I loved listening to that guy. I especially liked the story about the inventor of Monopoly.
i guess i was in the car around 6:30 - 7 the other night..i think it was 740, but it might have been 700 am.
When I moved to California my junior year of high school, before I met anyone, I'd go to my car during lunch to listen to him. He's great and that's a great story.
It's on 740AM KTRH. The short version (8 minutes or so) airs at 7:50am and 6:50pm M-F. The long (20 minutes) version airs at 12:30pm M-F. That according to the KTRH website. Good day.
MadMax, I'm so proud of you. Seriously, this is what I always say about Clinton, you don't have to like his politics, and he definitly doesn't have the highest moral standards, but do you think a guy who comes from the background he does, a mother who is known as a town fluzie, a drunken step father, could get as far as he has in life if he didn't have any substance or some character to him. People from those backgrounds don't ascend to the position of the most powerful man in the world, without some substance, some driving force. No matter what you think about him, he is the ultimate underdog.
Yup, had a whirlwind junior year. Started in Katy, moved to Aptos, CA in late September, moved back to Katy at the start of the spring semester, moved to Chicago April of spring semester. All because of a ****ty, false accusation hurled at my Dad at his job of 25+ years. Looking back, I'm glad it happened since Chicago's now become my favorite city in the world, but I hated life that year.
Over 200 miles? I'll say.... From DC to Hot Springs....more like over a 1000 miles. I guess 200 is more believable. Still, a nice yarn....
You'd convert too if you went to Lambeau for a few games. Then there's Brett Favre, my favorite athlete ever.
I've heard the story told slightly differently (this from CNN.com): "As he got older, Bill became very protective of his mother. When out on dates as a teenager, Bill would call home to make sure his mother was okay. During one argument when Bill was 14, Bill broke down the door to his parents' room and told his stepfather "that I was bigger than him now, and there would never be any more of this while I was there."" The implication being that the mother, rather than the four year-old half-brother (Bill is 10 years older than Roger), was the subject of the beatings. Of course, it is not unlikely that all three of them (Bill, Roger and their mother) were subjected to beatings at various times. The CNN bio says only that Roger, Sr. was abusive to Bill's mother. It makes no mention of abusiveness directed at Roger, Jr. or Bill. But even if Bill stood up for his mother rather than his half-brother at age 14, the moral of the story is still the same.
Who said his step father still lived in Hot Springs? Didn't Clinton have relatives in Virginia? This from Grollier Scholastic: <i>Young Bill attended school in Little Rock. He was an honors student, played the saxophone, and was popular with his classmates. But life at home was not always pleasant. The elder Clinton was an alcoholic, and when he had too much to drink, he could be abusive. One day, when Bill was about 14, he stood up to his stepfather. Although his stepfather kept drinking, the abuse stopped. As Bill grew older, he came to understand his stepfather's problem and so was able to forgive him before he died.</i>
You have a point, but it doesn't say his step father still lived in Arkansas. BTW, Paul Harvey is a respected newsman, so I tend to believe this story, until proved otherwise.
His mother's name was Virginia. His mother and Roger Clinton, Sr. were apparently still married and together at the time of his death from cancer in 1968. She still lived in Hot Springs at the time.
His stepfather (Roger) is the one that moved him to Hot Springs: http://www.hopeusa.com/clinton/believe.html Roger is also buried in Hot Springs: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6884288 But then again....who knows? Maybe the only hospital the poor drunk could afford to die in was 800 miles from home.
grace is grace...i don't care who you are, if you treat people right, i like you. if you show love to the loveless or forgiveness to the unforgiven, you have my admiration. there are countless criticisms i can and have thrown at bill clinton...but this kind of thing tends to overshadow those in my book. this kind of act is rare, i'm afraid...we expect so little of people in general...and we're usually all so cynical that when we hear a story like this we immediately doubt it...or try to throw stones at it...the point is the man reached out to someone who had mistreated him earlier in his life...a figure that would be unforgivable to many of us...that's Christ-like and i think that's awesome!
