This week's debut of the movie Carter High brings with it memories of some of Dallas' lowest moments… but also a bright one.
In 1988, there were so many hopes hanging on the shoulders of the Dallas Carter Cowboys. Their speed and their strength assured the first Dallas ISD state football championship since 1950.
And they won.
But they also lost, their trophy returned for cheating. Most painfully, some team members were sent to prison for robbery.
In the midst of that despair, a teaching moment arose when two of the young men — once college-material, soon prison-bound — publicly announced they would plead guilty. They apologized to the victims and their families.
All-American Derric Evans explained to a mother who'd sacrificed to give him everything: "My actions have caused a lot of pain for people, but nothing like the pain I caused my Momma. You didn't take me to church on Sunday and whip me when I did wrong to have me end up like this."
Leading scorer Gary Edwards told his parents: "You don't deserve the disappointment, the embarrassment, the shame that I've brought you… please find it in your heart to forgive me."
Those parents didn't run; they stood with their children, literally and figuratively — saying without speaking, "This young man, my young man, has done wrong... but he is still my child."
Our children from time to time need correction, but they also need leadership… even in the darkest hour.
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