San Francisco 49ers rookie receiver Ricky Pearsall was shot in the chest last summer during an armed robbery, which is one of the many perks of the job out there in the Bay Area.
The teenage thief was after Pearsall's Rolex watch, but ended up in a struggle which saw both men struck by the gunfire and sent to the hospital.
Ricky recovered from his injuries and was able to return to the lineup by late October, accumulating 400 yards and 3 touchdowns over the course of the season.
A pretty decent showing for a rookie receiver, especially one who was shot in the chest in late August.
Now that the season's over, Pearsall has some unfinished business concerning the teenager who shot him - most importantly, forgiving him.
(It's hard to hear the question from the press here, but they're asking if Pearsall thinks he'll ever face the kid in court.)
I don't know how he grew up, so I can't judge him as a man just based off one action that he made …
I don't ever want that to happen, so ... just being able to forgive him at the end of the day, like, I have to be able to forgive him to have that weight off my chest, you know what I mean?
At some point, I do want to talk to the kid and make sure that, if I can, create an impact on him in any way. I think that would be really big. I'd be definitely open to doing that.
What a guy!
Got shot in the chest heading into his rookie season and he now wants to forgive the kid who shot him and hopefully have an impact on his life.
It takes a lot to handle a situation like this the way Pearsall is, and I think we could all learn a valuable lesson here in forgiveness.
I'll leave you with Pearsall's answer on how the shooting changed his perspective on life:
