GRIT - Stories of Resilience

In the late spring of 1956, Wake Forest College moved from the town of Wake Forest to Winston - Salem and a new campus. Most of my friends were children of faculty members as was I, as my dad was the Chaplain of the school. Many of my friends stayed behind, and I lost contact with them. But in a twist, this past week I had lunch with one of them again, a person whom I had known since the first grade, and he told me about others just like him that I had known all those years ago and what had become of them and the lives they had lived.It made me think about friendships all the more, and so this podcast is about friendships, new and old, the grit and resilience of having them, and how they enrich our lives.From the random meeting of someone who works in a grocery store to someone you meet in a courtroom or school, life is about making and collecting new friends.I hope you will enjoy it and this week, make at least one new friend.

When former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice and legendary lawyer Phil Carlton asked me to speak to the residents of The Cardinal, a well-known senior citizen's establishment in Raleigh, I immediately said yes.So, on Wednesday, August 27, due primarily to the interest in the Jeffrey MacDonald murder case, I spoke to an overflow group of about 150 people about the case and then added parts of my own subsequent story for good measure.This podcast is the video of that presentation. It is a trip back in time.

An article in the Washington Post tells us are becoming a nation of homebodies. So, when I went to Winston-Salem last week to hold a seminar, it was my intention this would be my last time there in person. I would do this program remotely online in the future.The program was lively with lots of participation by everyone. As people fully participated in give and take, I slowly realized I was not ready to say goodbye to anyone.So, it is with me in other locations as well. While technology can replace a great deal, it is not yet a good substitute for being there, looking and listening to people face to face.Being a full-time homebody is something I want to resist until I cannot. While we know that being alone and feeling that way can cause serious depression, we continue to learn that it is in being with people that is perhaps the best way to fight back.For me, the best may yet be still out there. I don't want to miss it. I can be a homebody when I have to be, not before.

Rick Thames was 26 years old and a new reporter for the Fayetteville Observer when he moved to Raleigh in the summer of 1979 to cover the Jeffrey MacDonald murder trial.Now, after a remarkable career in journalism, including stops as Editor at the Wichita Eagle and the Charlotte Observer, Rick sits down with me to recall those weeks that summer when he had a front row seat for the murder trial of Jeffrey MacDonald.He remembers it all, saying the moment the jury announced their verdict of guilty was one of the most explosive moments he had ever seen.Rick tells his thoughts about the trial, the evidence and the very questions he asked MacDonald one day at lunch that summer.

It is in climbing many of the highest peaks in the world that Clark Wright, a long-time attorney from New Bern, North Carolina, says he "feels closer to God and a real sense of peace and contentment".Fresh from his latest journey in the Andes mountains of Peru, he talks about his love of outdoors and how it has shaped his life and career.He speaks of his family, his law practice of 43 years, and at the age of 68, the challenges that lie ahead.

This is the story of a 17-year-old girl who is in a tragic car accident, while sitting in the back seat and what happens to the rest of her life.Tara Stone suffers from a traumatic and severe brain injury when she is thrown from the car, going over 100 miles per hour. In a coma for months, she finally awakes to a life of no real awareness, an inability to speak or control her own body, but a life of making all who see her feel better. She is a blessing to all who meet her.Her parents, Ray and Carolyn Stone, are the supreme example of unconditional love for their daughter as they take care of her and see her every day at the hospitals and eventual nursing homes where she lives the rest of her life.Tara beats the odds and lives until she is 43, 27 years longer than the doctors originally thought possible.This story is one of grit, resilience, deep faith and forgiveness.

Dick Horgan wanted to come east, away from his home state of California, so he received a four-year scholarship to Yale, and never looked back.A lawyer with a large firm in Manhattan, handling major civil cases in federal courts, he cashed in when he turned 50, and with his wife, moved to the coastal city of Wilmington, North Carolina, reinvented his life and career, practicing estate law and teaching adult Sunday School for just over 30 years.But that is not why his podcast is so good. Dick is an incorrigible optimist, full of hope, faith and a lover of the good life he has lived. You cannot listen or see him without some of that rubbing off on you.He is now in the twilight of his time, as he told me recently over the phone..."Jim. the medicine is not working, but I have lived a wonderful life."This podcast was one of the first I did, on May 22, 2023. I want to publish it one more time...on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube or wherever you get your podcast.