If you happen to be a firm believer in the notion of “forgive and forget” then this next inspiring story about a woman who forgave her killer is bound to interest you.
This is the real-life story of a woman who hails from Florida who displayed the most incredible form of forgiveness recently by opting to become prison pen pals with the teenage boy who shot her in the face.
Despite the harrowing mugging attempt that she was inflicted with, the woman chose to put all of that aside and bring out her heart of gold. Yes, she forgave him even though she almost lost her own life.
But that’s not all, she even assisted in trying to bring back his freedom too.
Ian Manuel was only 13 when he happened to be residing at one of Tampa Bay’s most violent and notorious areas.
One fine day, Debbie Baigrie crossed the street and was minding her own business when she was faced with a mugging attempt by this young man.
Since Ian was surrounded by an older company that was clearly a bad influence on him, he also began to follow their practices. They told him to mug Debbie and her friends that were nearby.
Confused and feeling the pressure to perform, he shot Debbie and the bullet struck the lower part of her face. However, she did manage to survive in the end but Ian was arrested. He confessed to the cops about the crime and didn’t hold back.
Debbie underwent nearly 40 different strategies and slowly healed her way to normalcy. But she never held a grudge against her shooter after finding out his background.
She felt sympathy for the little boy and the troubling circumstances that forced him to behave this way. And soon, she turned into his prison pen pal where she wrote letters to him and checked upon him.
At 14, Ian was given a life sentence but the older teens who instructed him were never caught. But Debbie couldn’t see him go through this, and she even received a call from the young man.
He apologized from prison for his wrongdoing and that touched her heart. She did find it bizarre at first but she just couldn’t hold the grudge because she knew he was too young to process what was going on.
Debbie soon turned into Ian’s life coach and the two kept on communicating via letters. And when he turned 40, the court ruled against giving life sentences to kids who did not commit murder.
In the end, Ian was a free man and before he moved, he made sure to be by Debbie’s side, thanking her for all the strength, support, and act of forgiveness that she displayed towards him.
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