Picking Cotton
http://www.pickingcottonbook.com/home.html
Every so often a book comes along that is intensely moving and filled with lessons. Picking Cotton seems to me to be this generation's To Kill A Mockingbird, only Picking Cotton is not a novel. It is the real story of a young woman who experienced an attempted rape and the man who went to jail for that crime even though he was innocent. More amazingly, they become good friends. In the very first chapter you are given that information. Nevertheless, the first half of the book is painful to read. We are reading details of the horror of being a rape victim, the flaws in our judicial system, and the brutality of prison life. It's not a pleasant read. But then we are treated to the most amazing story of redemption and forgiveness. You can imagine how bitter a man imprisoned for eleven years for a crime he didn't commit might be. Can you even imagine that he isn't? Can you imagine that he forgives, and he helps the woman to forgive herself for wrongly accusing him? For those of us who grew up with a Christian heritage, there is no better example. Also, we are reminded of the flaws in our judicial system even by those people who conscientiously try to enforce justice. What better reason to abolish the death penalty. Too often innocent people are killed. Picking Cotton is a book filled with life lessons. My words only touch the surface. I urge you to seek it out.
Every so often a book comes along that is intensely moving and filled with lessons. Picking Cotton seems to me to be this generation's To Kill A Mockingbird, only Picking Cotton is not a novel. It is the real story of a young woman who experienced an attempted rape and the man who went to jail for that crime even though he was innocent. More amazingly, they become good friends. In the very first chapter you are given that information. Nevertheless, the first half of the book is painful to read. We are reading details of the horror of being a rape victim, the flaws in our judicial system, and the brutality of prison life. It's not a pleasant read. But then we are treated to the most amazing story of redemption and forgiveness. You can imagine how bitter a man imprisoned for eleven years for a crime he didn't commit might be. Can you even imagine that he isn't? Can you imagine that he forgives, and he helps the woman to forgive herself for wrongly accusing him? For those of us who grew up with a Christian heritage, there is no better example. Also, we are reminded of the flaws in our judicial system even by those people who conscientiously try to enforce justice. What better reason to abolish the death penalty. Too often innocent people are killed. Picking Cotton is a book filled with life lessons. My words only touch the surface. I urge you to seek it out.