Sandra Babcock: Act of forgiveness deserves act of contrition
If there’s anything to be gleaned from the Clifford Helm case it’s that Spokane has witnessed a gut-wrenching lesson in forgiveness.
If your head’s been in the fish bowl since 2005, Clifford Helm drove his truck into the Schrocks’ van one winter evening. The Schrocks’ five children died in the crash. Helm was injured. Jeffrey Schrock, the father and driver of the van, was also injured. In one split second lives changed forever.
Within a week, lives were changed again as the community watched Jeffrey and Carolyn Schrock go to the hospital room of the person who wiped their family slate clean, hold his hand and forgive him. This is forgiveness in action, without grudge or call for recognition. I’m awestruck by this simple yet difficult action by the Schrocks, who live in a tightly knit Mennonite community.
Forgive us our trespasses, an axiomatic sentence in the Lord’s Prayer, can be a mighty big pill to swallow when we’re called to the task. It’s not easy to look past transgressions made against us and see beneath the flesh and bone exterior, the person who has wronged us. Yet the Schrocks did just that.
Over the past two years, comments on the street and in the newspaper ranged from, “He’d pay the price if that were my family” to my end of the spectrum, “awestruck.” After the trial, comments of “What’s happened to our justice system” hit the newspapers and airwaves.
Beyond a reasonable doubt is a viable escape clause for those who are relying on it to get them off the hook. Beyond a reasonable doubt is also a viable examination clause insisting jurors fully scrutinize the evidence presented. Although I haven’t read the full transcript of the trial it was obvious from what I read in the paper that “beyond a reasonable doubt” was not proven by the prosecution.
Afterward, Clifford and Sandy Helms walked from the court room, flanked by the Schrocks, acquitted by a jury of their peers of any wrongdoing. The reasonable doubt, so adeptly proven by the defense, hinged on “cough syncope” a cough condition that purportedly caused Helm to pass out at the wheel and drive his truck into the Schrocks’ van. No one could prove it happened. More importantly, no one could prove it didn’t.
But how far does forgiveness go for Clifford Helm? Recently, The Spokesman-Review reported that Helm will retain his driver’s license despite his medical condition. Isn’t this similar to letting a child rapist free in a schoolyard? And similar to child rapist scenarios, will Helm run his vehicle into another car and devastate another family before he’s stripped of his driver’s license?
The act of forgiveness so graciously bestowed upon Helm requires an equal dose of contrition as well. I certainly hope Helm voluntarily relinquishes his driver’s license, taking himself from behind the wheel and off the streets. The state of Washington might not legally be able to do that but Helm certainly can and in memory of those five children, he certainly should.
Helm was forgiven once. I wouldn’t push the envelope if I were him.