Sermon : On Who O.J.’s ‘Real Me’ Could Be

Once agan, our city and the nation are obsessed with the O.J. Simpson case. We are all getting an informative lesson in how our system of justice operates. Indeed, it will be up to the courts to determine whether the famous athlete committed the brutal double murders.

But I keep recalling that Friday afternoon in June when Simpson was on the run. Before taking to the freeway, he took time to write a letter that was read to the public. Simpson said: “I’ve had a good life. I’m proud of how I lived. My Mama taught me to do unto others. I treated people the way I wanted to be treated. Don’t feel sorry for me. I’ve had a great life, great friends. Please think of the real O.J. and not this lost person.”

Is he that poor boy reared by his mother? Or is he the wife beater and possible enraged murderer? I am not trying to pronounce judgment. I am merely asking which is the real O.J. Simpson?

We tend to judge people by the worst mistake they ever make. A person proves unfaithful, so we say that is the kind of person he or she is. A person steals something, so we say that person is a thief. A person commits a murder and we say that person is a monster, a cold-hearted killer.

Such is not necessarily the case. If you take 30 minutes out of many criminals’ lives, they are just like the rest of us.

I’m not saying there aren’t real perverted people. Rather, we are all capable of doing hideous things under certain circumstances. It is easy to believe in the dark side of human nature. Look at Rwanda, Bosnia, Haiti, child abuse, spouse abuse.

I believe we are a three-storied kind of creature. We live on the first floor. The dark side is the basement. There is also a higher floor that beckons us to be what we are meant to be--that is, like God.

That’s the place I think Simpson was referring to when he said, “Please think of the real O.J. and not this lost person.” He believes that down deep in his soul he is the person his mother taught and who so many people knew and liked.

Even if O.J. is guilty, which the jurors will decide, he is still a child of God.

This doesn’t mean that those who have commited heinous crimes should not be punished. But if we are to rise to that better self--the real self--we need to remember that when God finished creating man and woman, He said “it was very good,” higher praise than for His other efforts. That gives us self-respect. When we have that, we bring dignity to our work, our relations with other people, which, in turn, gives meaning to our existence. All people have value and dignity--that is what the drug users, liars and murderers forget. We must find a way to help all people believe in their better self--the real self--the self they were given life to be.