Angels Among Us

 Oh I believe there are angels among us
Sent down to us from somewhere up above
They come to you and me in our darkest hours
To show us how to live, to teach us how to give
To guide us with the light of love

  My journey of learning to live with a son in prison has allowed me to cross paths with some of the most amazing mothers God ever created.   Women who also survived the horror of a watching helplessly while your child’s life is taken and their dreams are crushed forever.  One such mother is Mary Duval.  Mary and her son Ricky have been the subject of many television shows, news broadcast and magazine articles.  They have been featured on CNN and 20/20.  When Ricky was 16, he met a young girl at a club who he had sex with on two occasions and who lied about her age.  She told him she was 15.  Turns out she was only 13.  Even though the girl and her parents did not want Ricky prosecuted.  He was.  He was looking at 20 years in prison.  He was advised to take a plea and was then labeled a tier 3 predator status sex offender ( the most dangerous status  of all) for life.  He was no longer allowed to attend school.  He was ostracized and bullied.   Taunted and harassed.  Community members followed him with video cameras. Ricky and his mother and his brother had to move into an old trailer that sat outside of the populated areas and afforded them a place to run if vigilantes came calling.  Oh, and did I mention, Ricky’s mother, Mary, was blind?  But that never stopped her from fighting.  And fight she did.  She took on the elected officials.  She went to Washington.  She appeared in front of cameras fighting for Ricky and every mother’s son like him.  She fought tirelessly.  Until she couldn’t fight anymore.

  Tonight, Mary Duval has slipped into a coma and is on life support.  She has been battling cancer.  I can’t help but wonder how many battles must this woman fight in her lifetime?   Last year, when the word came that there was a group of homeless men who had been released from prison or jail with no place to go and were living under a bridge in Miami, Fl.  Mary packed up and took a camera crew and she went there and she served soup and kindness to those men that society had thrown away and hated.    http://juliatuttlecauseway.blogspot.com/

She practiced and lived the verse from the bible that many choose to ignore: 

“Whatever you do for the least of these…you do for me”   

A friend of mine wrote some beautiful words about that day under the bridge that I would like to share an excerpt of:

CRYSTAL CLEAR

“Hail Nancy, full of Grace, your public lynchings are a disgrace;

those without sin are now running this place; do unto others with nary a trace”

She must be some kinda saint or somethin’

Ya know, hangin’ the sinners and all

James says God forgives but the government don’t;

That people could but they won’t

No matter who you are or what you did

Don’t seem right

The mood’s pretty good here right now

The guys talkin’ Christmas and Salvation

Charlie’s got an old guitar he got last year from the Army

They ring bells and sing

Think it’s a homeless thing

Makes me lil sad; makes us all a lil sad, to tell you the truth

They’re the only ones who care we are here

Oh, there is one other kind soul that drifts in with a prayer

We call her Mary D

She can’t see our smiles, but she knows they are there

She was blinded by God, not by hate

So much different then the rest of this state

Settin’ up tables and cups for her right now

Mary D’s servin hot soup tonight

Don’t wanna be late

Life is hard

Send us a Christmas card

PO BOX 000 Julia Tuttle Causeway Miami, FLA”

Written by LEE

“She was blinded by God but not by hate”  Wow, no truer words have been spoken.

  We could all learn a lot from Mary Duval.  

 She is a fighter and a crusader who has shown such courage and determination tempered with kindness and love.

But most of all, she is a MOM.

God Bless You, Mary Duval.