Seeking Redemption

Due to the indiscretions of my youth, I have been marked with a scarlet letter similar to what is discussed in the book of the same name by Nathaniel Hawthorne.  Even though the incident occurred many years ago, time has healed some issues but not all.  In looking for housing and employment in Austin, I could have had both many times over had I not gained this black mark on my background.  Not only during this time of searching, but also in many cases over the years, I often contemplate society's platitudes concerning the need for forgiveness, redemption, and rehabilitation.  In other words, giving people a second chance not based on their past but on the change which is evident by a person's current lifestyle.  People make mistakes.  This is the lot of human beings living out their life's course while placed in this earthly realm.  Maybe the generalities spoken concerning a second chance are for everybody else except for the person who has it in their power to offer such a chance.  Everyone deserves a second chance as long as I'm not the one who has to take the risk of offering it.  This is how it seems to be, or at least it is my perception.  Who am I to judge?  However, based on the evidence of a person's lifestyle, if they have truly changed, a person can and must be given a second chance.  If another person still hasn't changed in their mental attitudes and outward physical behavior, then, yes, I must agree a second chance is not warranted.  How long must it take before I have paid my debt to society?  What about me, in addition to my mistake, continues to make me sub-human, in fact an animal, not worthy of re-entry in society?  These are hard questions to answer, and even more difficult to implement into practice.  Until such time, I must proceed in crying out "Unclean!  Unclean!"  whenever I approach what other people take for granted as normal.

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