A Forgiveness That Must Not Be Forgotten

In twenty years will anyone remember the name Odin Lloyd? Perhaps you have forgotten already.

In twenty years Ursula Ward won’t forget Llyod’s name.
If he survives twenty or more years of prison, either should Aaron Hernandez.

Ward was Lloyds’s mother.
According to a Massachusetts’ jury, Hernandez was his killer.

Unbelievably there could be two more people that Hernandez has killed. That’s the next trial he faces, after being sentenced to life with no parole in the Lloyd case. It makes you wonder how many other victims there are.

If you are unfamiliar with this trial, get up to date on the facts. Hernandez was a $ 40 million tight end for the New England Patriots. Lloyd was effectively his quasi brother-in-law. Over some dispute potentially related to the other murders, Hernandez took Lloyd’s life.

Senseless.

Despite a lack of clear motive and only circumstantial evidence, the jurors convicted Hernandez. Pundits say he was doomed when his own lawyers inexplicably admitted Hernandez was present when Lloyd was shot. They asserted that Hernandez’s drugged out friends did the deed in an unplanned and random incident. Hmm.

The jury didn’t buy it and last week, Hernandez was declared guilty as sin. The verdict was shocking. First because most people expected it, but hearing it made it real. Secondly, because many people expected a rich NFL star to evade prosecution. Cue the OJ Simpson tapes now. It didn’t happen.

So Hernandez is following the Rae Carruth bus to jail and not the OJ Bronco to freedom. Although OJ’s freedom didn’t last forever…

But the shocking aspects of this sad affair didn’t end there. That was yet to come.

During the sentencing, Ward’s mother was given a chance to speak. This woman has endured a two year tortuous path since her son died up until this verdict. Everyday she showed up in court wearing her sons favourite colour. Everyday she was within first down yardage of her son’s killer. A multimillionaire who took the life of her blue collar son, who played semi-professional football entirely for his love of the game.

When it was her turn to rise and address the court, rise she did. This was her opportunity to share her feelings. Her despair over her loss. What it felt to lose your first born.

Ward spoke with conviction, power, love, and forgiveness. The latter shocked me. It startled the courtroom. It confounded the media covering the trial. Ward actually forgave Hernandez and begged all others to eventually forgive him as well.

She did this as she recalled being both mother and father to Lloyd, whom she raised on her own. She did this as she talked about what a great brother he was. What a doting uncle he was. What a lover of the gridiron he was.

Lloyd knew that his NFL friend meant him harm on that fateful evening. He alerted his sister by text. But maybe he was courageous and accepted his fate or perhaps he was disbelieving that a man with $ 40 million would risk it all, by hurting him. We will never know.

But now the killer no longer has $ 40 million, or thousands of adoring fans, or kids wearing his jersey. Now he has a lifetime of confinement to face. Plus the the challenge of being a famous man in a very scary place.

He also has the words of Ursula Ward. Her forgiveness. Her strength. I could not imagine being able to do what she did. Perhaps someday Hernandez will recognize the gift she gave him. Perhaps he someday he will use her forgiveness to do some sort of good.

Lest he forget.