Do you believe in second chances? I do. I believe that anyone can get caught up in crazy moments and do really really stupid things, and then regret it later – usually after they get caught.
That’s because the shame and disappointment sets in. We realize we’ve hurt our families, and maybe even screwed up our future…It’s happened to even the best of us at different levels…But I believe that if you come forward and take responsibility and say you’re sorry and accept your punishment, you’re putting yourself back on the right road, and we should support young men and women who do that and mean it.
And that’s why I wanted to bring you this story.
Ya know, when you sit at home and you watch all this looting and craziness, the people become nameless and faceless – just “looters.”
But it’s more than that. Good people can get caught up in bad things…mob mentality is real.
And that’s what I hope happened to a 20-year-old young man by the name of Aaron Neal.
Aaron lives in Englewood, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. And when the riots started he jumped willingly into the fray and even live-streamed himself trying to break into an ATM.
He was arrested (thanks to that video he posted) and he even spent a few nights in jail – and that’s what really impacted him. Those nights in jail. They were an eyeopener for Aaron, he said “it makes you lose your mind, and in a way, it makes you go crazy,” Neal recalled. “You can’t talk to the people you normally talk to, hear voices you normally hear, or do things you normally do.”
Aaron decided to sit down with the local news in Chicago to talk about how sorry he was for what he did.
From Newsweek [3]
A Chicago man recently apologized after he live streamed himself breaking into an ATM during a string of protests and looting incidents in the city and stated that he is “not a looter.”
Aaron Neal, 20, from Englewood, recently spoke to NBC 5 in Chicago about how he feels “very remorseful” for his alleged actions.
According to the Chicago Police Department, Neal was accused of live streaming himself on Facebook while he broke into an ATM with a hammer on August 10. NBC 5 reported that police said Neal filmed the alleged incident from his cellphone and smiled into the camera before hitting the ATM machine.
“I’m not a looter,” Neal said in response. “I normally don’t loot. That’s not what I do. I’m a working man.”
During the interview, Neal also apologized for his alleged actions and how he understood the pain business owners felt as a result of the widespread looting in the city.
“I’m sorry,” Neal said. “I’m very remorseful, because if I was a business owner myself, I would understand where they are coming from, and their pain. Because one day I might be able to be a business owner and I wouldn’t want it to happen to my business.”
You can watch the video below:
I hope Aaron is sincere and I hope that he has an opportunity to get his life back on track.
I feel like it took a lot of courage to come forward like this and admit he was wrong, and face the humiliation of what he did.
Sometimes it takes a terrible life moment to make us realize what road we don’t want to go down – I hope you’ll all say a prayer for young Aaron.
This piece was written by Missy Crane on August 20, 2020. It originally appeared in WayneDupree.com [4] and is used by permission.