In my life...
Click on the photo to read a touching letter written a few days after the murder of Mr. Bright concerning Mary
Mary's Insight
Imagine the excitement of having a book published that you have worked on for over seven years. My father and I were thrilled beyond words to say the least. He began by writing his words on yellow legal tablets. Day after day and month after month he wrote. Then one day we received the news that we were going to print. A few months later we had our book in our hands, Whistle for the Wind. What a proud moment. We began small book signings at churches and small gatherings and graduated to large arenas. Finally, the moment came for us to practice for a commercial, Tuesday, July 15, 2008. I prepared dinner that night and my father and I laughed about the possibility of him being on TV as early as the next Tuesday. We laughed through each segment, as he was a very shy man in front of the camera. We had many out-takes.
Ironically, the next Tuesday, his story was all over the news. The inspirational story of our book being published was not the headlines. Instead, it was the account of his brutal and unjustified murder that was all over the news. Everywhere the overall question was, "Who would kill Mr. Bright?"
The night before my father's funeral, at the wake, over 600 people pressed into the building anxiously waiting a turn to speak. There were many people who wanted to let us know how my father had impacted their lives, as a mechanic, as a Sunday School teacher, as a community leader, as a friend and as a good man. We were deeply touched, as one man told of being crippled as a young teenager, and my father physically carrying him onto the Sunday School bus. Dad had promised his mother that God would heal her son and he would walk if he went to Sunday School for six months. In six months, he was healed. Countless stories were told of how my father fixed a customer's car and slipped the money back under the armrest of the customer's car, after he was paid for the job. We closed the microphone after two hours to the long line that was still waiting.
It has been a long, painful journey since my father's death, but I am grateful. I am grateful for all of the wonderful friends and family that has stood shoulder to shoulder with us. I am grateful that God allowed my father to complete his work on earth and realize his accomplishments while in the land of the living. I am grateful that God has allowed me to forgive the young man who took my father's life. At my father's trial, I expressed to him (the first time I had been face to face with him) that if he repented before God and asked His forgiveness, then he would be invited to join my father, my family and me in Heaven one day, to sit at the table prepared for us by the Almighty God.
My healing from my father's murder began when I started visiting schools and lecturing to middle and high schoolers on structuring their lives using right - thinking guides. It benefits me tremendously to hear from youngsters who have learned from these words. I received a call just the other day, from the friend of a teacher who said that a child in her class received a copy of Whistle for the Wind. He insisted that his mother dropped what she was doing to read the book, right then. He excitedly told her that his life was changed after my visit to his fifth grade class. He said that he had learned the lesson of forgivness, because of the forgiveness of my father's murderer. With God's help, my father changed lives while he was alive, and continues to change lives through his death. I am stronger today than in 2008. I have learned some things along the way, about God, about people, about true friends, about Christian love and about myself. I have hope of a brighter tomorrow. Whistle for the wind!
Mary Bright
Ironically, the next Tuesday, his story was all over the news. The inspirational story of our book being published was not the headlines. Instead, it was the account of his brutal and unjustified murder that was all over the news. Everywhere the overall question was, "Who would kill Mr. Bright?"
The night before my father's funeral, at the wake, over 600 people pressed into the building anxiously waiting a turn to speak. There were many people who wanted to let us know how my father had impacted their lives, as a mechanic, as a Sunday School teacher, as a community leader, as a friend and as a good man. We were deeply touched, as one man told of being crippled as a young teenager, and my father physically carrying him onto the Sunday School bus. Dad had promised his mother that God would heal her son and he would walk if he went to Sunday School for six months. In six months, he was healed. Countless stories were told of how my father fixed a customer's car and slipped the money back under the armrest of the customer's car, after he was paid for the job. We closed the microphone after two hours to the long line that was still waiting.
It has been a long, painful journey since my father's death, but I am grateful. I am grateful for all of the wonderful friends and family that has stood shoulder to shoulder with us. I am grateful that God allowed my father to complete his work on earth and realize his accomplishments while in the land of the living. I am grateful that God has allowed me to forgive the young man who took my father's life. At my father's trial, I expressed to him (the first time I had been face to face with him) that if he repented before God and asked His forgiveness, then he would be invited to join my father, my family and me in Heaven one day, to sit at the table prepared for us by the Almighty God.
My healing from my father's murder began when I started visiting schools and lecturing to middle and high schoolers on structuring their lives using right - thinking guides. It benefits me tremendously to hear from youngsters who have learned from these words. I received a call just the other day, from the friend of a teacher who said that a child in her class received a copy of Whistle for the Wind. He insisted that his mother dropped what she was doing to read the book, right then. He excitedly told her that his life was changed after my visit to his fifth grade class. He said that he had learned the lesson of forgivness, because of the forgiveness of my father's murderer. With God's help, my father changed lives while he was alive, and continues to change lives through his death. I am stronger today than in 2008. I have learned some things along the way, about God, about people, about true friends, about Christian love and about myself. I have hope of a brighter tomorrow. Whistle for the wind!
Mary Bright