Bryan Stevenson

And that was the moment when I had this realization that

I don't do what I do because I've been trained as a lawyer.

I don't do what I do because somebody has to do it.

I don't even do what I do because it's about human rights or justice.

That's part of it.

But what I realized that night that I'd never realized before is that I do what I do because I'm broken too.

I am not unflawed.

I am not unblemished.

I am not uncomplicated in the same ways that the people I represent are.

But I do believe in the power of redemption.

I do believe in grace.

I do believe in mercy.

I do believe in restoration because I have been the beneficiary of so much grace and so much mercy.

That man, before he was executed, gave me something so powerful, so beautiful, so affirming.

And that's why I think we should do better for the broken.

that we encounter.

We should think better of the broken that we encounter.

Because just as we can give to them, they can give to us.

And it does, for me, become important to talk about the fact that we can't create a perfect world, but we can create a world that's filled with more grace, more mercy, and more love.

I'm grateful that I am the heir of so many hopeful people, people who had to do things much harder than I've had to do.