Be The Janitor

This article originally appeared in the Daily Caller on September 17, 2023.

Right in my backyard, in the city of Atlanta, we saw 9 shootings that left 6 dead and 15 wounded over Labor Day weekend.

96 Georgia teens and children have now died as a result of gun violence in 2023. This is a sobering number. We cannot ignore the serious problem facing our society today — not a problem with guns but rather a problem with culture. This amount of violence is heartbreaking, and I personally can’t stand by and watch my community destroy itself.

Years ago, I wasn’t much different than the young men getting caught up in these shootings. I was trapped in a life of crime and felt like everyone had given up on me. I walked the halls of my college alone. Head down and with no friends after I had been kicked off the football team.

I was in and out of jail between 15 and 19 years old. I was ashamed of the mistakes I had made and desperately wanted to do better, but I just kept falling into the trap that was my old mentality. When you are the guy who has been in and out of jail, people aren’t exactly lining up to be your friend.

Then one day when I was walking down the halls, a woman who was working as a janitor stopped me. She said she saw a light shining over me. I thought she was crazy, but she took me in, mentored me, and helped me live my life as a man of God.

Read full op-ed in the Daily Caller.