The Sun Does Shine

This #thankyouthursday, I am grateful for The Sun Does Shine.

I am not a big fan of relativist arguments when it comes to suffering—like, if someone is having a bad day, I don’t think it’s super helpful to point out that other people have it worse.

That being said, after reading Anthony Ray Hinton’s memoir about his wrongful imprisonment on death row for three decades, it’s pretttttty hard to complain about my life.

Like, I’ve been sick this week, and it has sucked. But have I been wrongfully sentenced to death row? No, no I have not.

(By the way, at least 1 in 25 people on death row are innocent. So whether or not you support the death penalty—which I challenge you to do after reading Hinton’s book—it’s pretty distressing that the system is so broken.)

And what’s more, even though Hinton was straight up falsely accused for a crime he could not possibly have committed, and then people lied at his trial and straight up ignored evidence that clearly indicated his innocence, and then he was stashed away in a cramped, vermin-infested cell for multiple decades...guess what? He still found a way to have a positive attitude, and to forgive his transgressors.

I’m not saying he was cheerful every day. He wasn’t. He was living in hell. But he did find a way to live through hell, and I am grateful he survived to tell his story.

So today I am grateful that, yes, the sun does shine. I am grateful that Anthony Ray Hinton is not still on death row, and I am grateful that people like Bryan Stevenson are working so hard to help others in unjust situations.

And I am grateful that by increasing awareness of stories like this—and supporting organizations like the Equal Justice Initiative—you and I can help the sun shine even brighter.

Love > fear,
Christina

p.s. Turns out The Sun Does Shine was an Oprah’s Book Club pick, because of course it was, so if you don’t have bandwidth to read it right away, you can check out this conversation with author Anthony Ray Hinton.