We all know the story of Al Capone. He virtually owned Chicago. There were few redeeming qualities about the man. He controlled a vast empire fueled by booze, prostitutes, and gambling.
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| Al Capone |
Of course, he was always in legal trouble. He had a highly competent lawyer, “Easy Eddie” who used the technicalities of the law to keep his employer free to run his crime empire. Eddie was well-compensated and lived large. He turned a blind eye to right and wrong and sold his soul for the sake of lucre.
Eddie had a son. And he desperately wanted to shield him from the debauchery, hoping for a better life. He tried to teach him right from wrong, because he wanted him to be a better man than he was. He lived a lie, but more than anything else, he didn’t want his son to follow in his footsteps.
His lifestyle decisions nagged him until one day he met with the IRS and FBI and began to open the books on Capone. He ended up testifying against the gangster. It cost him life, dying in a blaze of gunfire on a wet Chicago street.
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| Eddie O’Hare |
In his coat were a few items of redemption. A rosary, a crucifix and a poem clipped from a magazine.
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“The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop, at late or early hour. Now is the only time you own. Live, love, toil with a will. Place no faith in time. For the clock may soon be still.”
Part 2 of this story will appear tomorrow, but until then, think about what kind of example are we leaving our children as a nation? As individuals? What do they see? What do they overlook? How do they perceive our selfish choices? Can we right the wrong? Comment here if you would like. |
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Read all past issues at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davidrupert
Read all past issues at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davidrupert
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