Carolina Panthers Cam Newton took to Instagram today to remember charges he faced from 2008. If you weren’t aware back in 2008 Newton was a quarterback at Florida University, backing Tim Tebow.
He was accused of stealing another student’s laptop and got suspended from the team. The laptop was worth 1,700 dollars and he threw it outside of his dormitory window when cops arrived to investigate. Newton faced felony charges of burglary, larceny and obstructing justice.
All charges were dropped after he completed a pretrial intervention program.
In the Instagram post he shared his mug shot and these words,
• “Contemplated posting this and even reluctant about it but as I think about my life and the many things I’m thankful for, I want to be an open book so many people can [hear] my testimony and learn from flaws and mistakes I made on this day 11/21/2008. I was arrested for a stolen laptop and I’m sure your asking yourself where is he going with this story but the moral of the story is this . . . on this date I thought my life and my career was over and the fact that I had shamed my family with the media coverage surrounding this situation I vowed to myself on this day (9yrs ago) that ‘I will be better from this situation’ what you must learn from this story is this; if you live your life listening to what other people are saying what you should do and not your own, shame on you! I can honestly say to you today that no one gave me a chance to succeed down bad in my situation and if I would have listened to those people that said I can’t, who knows where I would be today. So I’m extremely thankful for God’s mercy, grace and favor over my life, so if I can do it with my circumstances surely you can do it and be whatever you want to be with hard work and persistence – Love.
• “Side note: And people wonder why I play the game the way I do, act the way I act, dress the way I dress, and even live the way I live because in some people’s eyes ‘I’m not supposed to be here’ but in my eyes I’m not going to have any regrets with the second chance God has given me.”
Honestly I applaud Cam for doing this. This man paid the price and had to attend a Binn College, community college, won a championship there (2009) and then went on to win a national championship at Auburn University (2010). Let’s also not forgot the prestigious Hesiman award and being drafted number one overall in 2011. It was not an easy route and it took time to redeem himself. I’m sure people make jokes of this today, but this truly hit me because you can come back from a lot of things in life.
He has been to a Super Bowl and is one of the biggest superstars in the NFL today. This story inspires me and am sure he will inspires other who have fallen out of line and looking for someone to relate to or just a feel good story that you can make it. It really does not matter what other people say, listen to yourself and do this for yourself!
Thoughts Like Jaden 