Pat's Court Date

Before I talk about Pat’s next court date, I am going to post a little story that I received. It was in a different format when I got it, but the very powerful message it conveyed moved me to post it to here.

Some of you may have received this in a different format, but I ask that you read it all the way through, at the end I have added my own personal message.
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One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books, and I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.' I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. When he looked up I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes

My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, 'Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives.' He looked at me and said, 'Hey thanks!' There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before this!

We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends, and he said yes.

We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again.

I stopped him and said, 'Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!' He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class, and he had to prepare a speech for graduation. I teased him all the time about being a nerd, but I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak! Graduation day, when I saw Kyle he looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him.

Boy, sometimes I was jealous! Today was one of those days. But I could see that he was nervous about his speech so I smacked him on the back and said, 'Hey, big guy, you'll be great!'

He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. 'Thanks,’ he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began 'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends.... I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.

I am going to tell you a story.

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told of the first day we met.

He had planned to kill himself over the weekend.

He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.

'Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.' I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.

Not until that moment did I realize it's depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person's life when they are in the most troubled time of their life.

Action can make their life better; doing nothing can make it worse.

God puts us all in each other’s lives to impact one another in some way.

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As I read this message, I got tears in my eyes because I thought of Patrick. I thought how each and every one of you reading this message right now with one small gesture can change his life.

Maybe some of you are thinking “I’ll donate to Pat’s legal fund soon.” Maybe some of you have no intentions of donating at all. Maybe some of you say “I just can’t afford to donate.” You can’t afford to help save someone’s life?

Never underestimate the power of your actions.

I will continue to beg and plead for donations because you see, I am trying to save my husband’s life as much as the boy in the story’s life was saved.

I know that the only way this can happen is by the people reading this understanding the power of their actions.

And now I ask two things of each of you reading this message:

1) Please, donate to Patrick’s legal defense fund. Never underestimate the power of your actions.
2) Please, send an e-mail to everyone in your contact list and tell them about this blog site and tell them about the importance of saving someone’s life.

The address is jpldefense.blogspot.com

On August 11th, Pat will appear in court to enter his plea. That day, the trial date will be set. I cannot stress to each of you enough the importance of donating to Pat. As of August 11th we will need to be able to know how we are going to cover the expenses for the expert witnesses and character witnesses necessary to save Pat’s life. Remember in order for him to have a defense team to fight for his life, we need at least $20,000. The legal defense fund balance is $1,980.00.

I am standing by my husband, and I ask that you all do the same.