Roy Exum
Two summers ago there was a 15-year-old boy at Atlanta’s Egleston children’s hospital with two big problems. Doctors had discovered the child had dilated cardiomyopathy and the left ventricle in his heart was failing to pump enough blood. Doctors predicted that without a heart transplant he would only live six to nine more months.
His other problem was a court-ordered monitoring device that was firmly attached to his leg. According to Anthony Stokes’ mother, it was for fighting.
It was also one reason the hospital determined young Anthony was not a good candidate for a transplant. Hospital officials feared he would be non-compliant to a strict regimen of expensive medicines, and had a poor support system versus another deserving child who also needed a heart where the demand outraces the supply.
The boy’s mom, Melencia Hamilton, was furious. She told the Atlanta newspaper, “It just seemed they decided he’s a troublemaker and that’s not true.” She ignited the civil rights crowd, convincing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference chapter that it was really because he was poor, black, and had brushes with the law.
Predictably there were press conferences, tearful interviews, and enough of a hurrah from outspoken liberal types that the hospital quickly reversed its decision and put young Anthony with the ankle bracelet first in line. The surgery went well. While it is not known who paid for the expensive procedure, the anti-rejection drugs, or the hospital bill itself, we do know the heart worked fine until Tuesday afternoon of this week.
That was when the 17-year-old Stokes crashed a stolen Honda he had just carjacked into a SunTrust sign at a high rate of speed. You see, the police were chasing him in Roswell after a botched robbery where he kicked a woman’s door after spraying the wall of her house with bullets. During the chase he hit another car and also clipped a pedestrian. It was reported the 17-year-old’s two-year-old heart stopped as rescue workers worked feverishly to cut him out of the car he had commandeered with his pistol.
As you try to get a grasp on this latest American tragedy, let’s look 160 miles to the west down I-20.
That was where, last weekend, Kyesha Woods dropped her three children off at a movie theater in Bessemer to watch the new release of Cinderella. When they got back home, her angry 16-year-old son told his mother that her daughter and step-daughter were “rude and obnoxious” during the movie and, when another woman scolded them, the two girls still acted out.
Now Kyesha was the furious mom. As a matter of fact, she got on Facebook and posted the following:
“This is a long shot, but I am looking for a woman that was at the Tannehill Premier tonight seeing Cinderella at 7 pm. I dropped my teenaged daughter, step-daughter and son off at the movie. My son later told me, much to my humiliation and embarrassment, that my girls were rude and obnoxious during the movie. The woman I am looking for addressed them and asked them to be quiet and they were disrespectful. After the movie she approached my girls and told them that her husband had been laid off and this was the last movie she would be able to take her daughter to for a while and my girls ruined that for her. If you are this woman please message me. I can assure you that these girls are being strongly dealt with and appropriately punished. This rude, disrespectful and awful behavior is unacceptable and they owe you an apology. My husband and I are having them write you an apology letter tonight and we would like to pay for your next movie and snacks out of their allowance. Please message me if this is you. I apologize profusely for their disrespect.”
My goodness! How many people do you think read Kyesha Woods’ post? I can promise it has gone viral and that tens-of-thousands of mothers all over the world have had their children read it. One reader was Rebecca Boyd, the lady in the theater who had tried to chastise the Woods’ girls. “After I read it I was touched that she cared how her kids behaved. You don’t see that a lot these days,” she told the Birmingham News.
Already Kyesha had her girls say a prayer for the family they affronted. “I had a conversation with them explaining the severity of their situation, and what it means to be compassionate about other people. We just felt so bad and we wanted to make it right.”
When the two mothers connected, they complimented each other’s parenting skills. “I thanked her for correcting my girls in my absence and letting them know they were wrong. A lot of times people get nervous about saying something to other people’s kids. But it takes a village to raise our kids,” said Woods. “We as a community need to hear this, that there are still parents out there who believe in old-fashioned methods.”
Rebecca Boyd said she also learned a lesson. “We as parents need to support each other. These girls aren’t bad kids; they just made some bad choices. I have been overwhelmed by all the love and support that has come from this,” she told the Birmingham News. “This is something my daughter Ashley and I will never forget.”
I think Fridtjof Nansen, the daring Norwegian explorer who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922, had it right when he said, “Have you not succeeded? Continue! Have you succeeded? Continue!”
And, for what it’s worth – you pronounce the Norwegian’s name like this: “FRI-choff NAN-sen.”
royexum@aol.com