PLEASE READ THE SHORT STORY AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS :) The car he was driving had skidded off the road and flipped over in a ditch. The woman who was with himhad been seriously injured. No charges had been laid and no one had ever said that it was Tony's fault."But," Father Tony explained, "I was sure that everyone secretly blamed me and thought that I was a baddriver. I wanted to prove to the world – or at least to myself – that I knew what I was doing behind thewheel. I started driving faster and more recklessly, just to show that I could handle a car. I reached thepoint where none of my friends would ride with me. Then that happened," he said, pointing to the picture."I was in the hospital for a long time. I'm lucky I came out alive. "While I was in the hospital, anevangelical minister used to come and visit me. He said my problem was that I was a sinner who wasrefusing the Lord's forgiveness. At first I just thought he was crazy. But I had a lot of time to think while Iwas lying in traction, and I began to think that maybe he was right. I knew I had never forgiven myself forthe accident that paralyzed Rachel. As I lay in that bed, I began to see that because I hadn't forgivenmyself, I kept doing more and more stupid things. I wanted to punish myself or to prove that what I didwasn't really that bad. The accident was the starting point for one long line of failures. I started to see thatunless I found a way to put that accident behind me for good, things would just keep getting worse." "Sowhat did you do?" “Since I didn't know what else to do, I started to pray for forgiveness." Ouray had beenleaning forward listening intently, but when Father Tony mentioned prayer, he slumped back into the chairand recrossed his arms. "I should have known that's what a priest would do." “I wasn't a priest then,Ouray. In fact, I wasn't very interested in God. I was just a university student who didn't like the way hislife was going and who wanted to do something about it." "Yeah, but what could prayer do?" “Among otherthings, it could change my attitude in a way nothing else could." And that was the beginning of Ouray andFather Tony's friendship. Father Tony helped Ouray to understand that forgiving yourself isn't easy, butsince everyone messes up sometime in their life it's something everyone needs to learn how to do."Everyone has two choices," Father Tony said. "They can refuse to forgive themselves, like Judas, and beremembered forever as failures; or they can accept forgiveness and forgive themselves, like Peter, andbecome better people because of their mistakes." Ouray didn't change overnight. His tough act hadbecome part of who he was; he couldn't just drop it. Eventually, however, he did stop looking forpunishment everywhere he went. He also stopped doing things just to prove himself, and he becamebetter at accepting his own failures and the failures of others. I guess you could say that Ouray eventuallydecided he would rather be like Peter than like Judas.Reflection Questions:1. How does refusing to forgive yourself affect a person?2. How can a person learn to forgive himself or herself? Go Ahead and Jump (Short Story)"I bet you can't make that jump without wiping out!" Darren yelled as he gunned the engine on his dirtbike. "Just watch me!" Ouray hollered back. He circled back a little way so that he could get a good run atthe ditch. He knew he could do it. He'd done it before when he was out here on his own. The trick was toturn your bike in the air just before you landed so that you'd hit the track on the other side at the rightangle. Ouray flew through the air over the ditch, wrenched his body and his bike to one side and made aperfect landing. Darren circled back to try the same trick. He succeeded, but barely. "I want to try that afew more times." "Sorry, man," Ouray said, "I have to go. I promised l'd be back before six." "No problem.I'll just practise on my own," Darren answered. "See you tomorrow." He drove his bike through the widepart of the ditch to get into position to jump again. Ouray headed for home. Just before he drove into thewoods, Ouray looked back to see how Darren was doing. He was just in time to see a group of older kidsjump Darren. Ouray turned to go help. But there were five of the older kids and they were all big. Ourayknew that he and Darren alone wouldn't stand a chance. He turned his bike again and raced full speed toget more help. A little while later he came tearing back through the woods with five more friends. Theymet Darren limping along, pushing his bike. He looked bad. Ouray felt like a jerk. He couldn't get thefeeling out of his head that he had betrayed his friend. A little voice inside him was yelling, "You're nothingbut a coward. You could have helped him but you were too scared. What kind of jerk runs away when hisfriend is in trouble?" The other kids were all talking with Darren about what had happened and trying tohelp him with his bike. Ouray didn't say a word. He wanted to tell everyone that he'd done the only smartthing. But everything he could think of to say just sounded lame. After a few minutes he said, "Well, I'vegotta go. I brought you enough help to get you anywhere you need to go, and l'm gonna be in big troublefor being so late." Ouray spent the whole night sitting alone in his room trying to justify his choice.Somehow, he just couldn't forgive himself. By the time morning finally came he was mad at everythingand everyone, especially Darren. "I know Darren thinks I'm a chicken now. It's as if everything I ever did inthe past doesn't count! One screw-up and you're labelled a coward forever. I'll show him. I'll show themall!" Ouray growled to his empty room. Ouray began to change. It was as if he was looking for trouble justto prove that he could handle it. He took every chance he got to irritate and aggravate the older kids in theschool. He got beaten up a few times, but that just made him more aggressive. He was going to show theworld that nothing scared him. Darren tried to talk with him a few times. He even tried to get Ouray to godriving bikes again once his was fixed. But Ouray didn't want to have anything to do with his old friends,especially Darren. He was sure that Darren and the rest of his old "gang" looked down on him as a wimpand a betrayer. So, whenever Darren asked him to do something, he said he was busy. Eventually,Darren gave up. He explained to his girifriend, "Ouray used to be a lot of fun. Now he's just a jerk. Itmakes no sense. It's not like he's doing this stuff for kicks. He's miserable and he's making everyone elsemiserable, too!" Who can say what would have happened to Ouray if his parents hadn't gotten desperateand made him go talk with Father Tony. Father Tony taught counselling at the local university. Ouray'smom met him when he gave a presentation at their church. She begged him to talk with Ouray and heagreed. When Ouray walked into Father Tony's office for the first time, it was clear that he did not want tobe there. He barely nodded when Father Tony said hello. Then he threw himself into the nearest chair,crossed his arms and stared straight ahead. Father Tony sat down in another chair and didn't say a word.On the wall in front of Ouray was a photograph of a fancy red sports car wrapped around a telephonepole. After a while, Ouray's curiosity got the better of him. "Why do you have that there?" he asked. "It's areminder," Father Tony said. "It's a reminder of the mess I can make of my life when I refuse to leave thepast in the past." "What do you mean?" Ouray's attention was caught. Father Tony told Ouray about anaccident that he'd had when he was in university.

Sociologists who are interested in how institutions and people influence each other have been quick…

The car he was driving had skidded off the road and flipped over in a ditch. The woman who was with him had been seriously injured. No charges had been laid and no one had ever said that it was Tony's fault. "But," Father Tony explained, “I was sure that everyone secretly blamed me and thought that I was a bad driver. I wanted to prove to the world – or at least to myself – that I knew what I was doing behind the wheel. I started driving faster and more recklessly, just to show that I could handle a car. I reached the point where none of my friends would ride with me. Then that happened," he said, pointing to the picture. "I was in the hospital for a long time. I'm lucky I came out alive. "While I was in the hospital, an evangelical minister used to come and visit me. He said my problem was that I was a sinner who was refusing the Lord's forgiveness. At first I just thought he was crazy. But I had a lot of time to think while I was lying in traction, and I began to think that maybe he was right. I knew I had never forgiven myself for the accident that paralyzed Rachel. As I lay in that bed, I began to see that because I hadn't forgiven myself, I kept doing more and more stupid things. I wanted to punish myself or to prove that what I did wasn't really that bad. The accident was the starting point for one long line of failures. I started to see that unless I found a way to put that accident behind me for good, things would just keep getting worse." "So what did you do?" “Since I didn't know what else to do, I started to pray for forgiveness." Ouray had been leaning forward listening intently, but when Father Tony mentioned prayer, he slumped back into the chair and recrossed his arms. "I should have known that's what a priest would do." "I wasn't a priest then, Ouray. In fact, I wasn't very interested in God. I was just a university student who didn't like the way his life was going and who wanted to do something about it." "Yeah, but what could prayer do?" “Among other things, it could change my attitude in a way nothing else could." And that was the beginning of Ouray and Father Tony's friendship. Father Tony helped Ouray to understand that forgiving yourself isn't easy, but since everyone messes up sometime in their life it's something everyone needs to learn how to do. "Everyone has two choices," Father Tony said. "They can refuse to forgive themselves, like Judas, and be remembered forever as failures; or they can accept forgiveness and forgive themselves, like Peter, and become better people because of their mistakes." Ouray didn't change overnight. His tough act had become part of who he was; he couldn't just drop it. Eventually, however, he did stop looking for punishment everywhere he went. He also stopped doing things just to prove himself, and he became better at accepting his own failures and the failures of others. I guess you could say that Ouray eventually decided he would rather be like Peter than like Judas. Reflection Questions: 1. How does refusing to forgive yourself affect a person? 2. How can a person learn to forgive himself or herself?