{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Forgiveness","description":"On this week's Keepin' It Real, Cam shares a story he's kept quiet for fourteen years. It's time to get it off his chest. ----- I\u2019ve just boarded my flight. I\u2019m headed home. Sitting here, a memory has resurfaced. Many years ago, deplaning in Chicago, I took a call from a young man. He\u2019d studied my work and asked me to mentor him. He wanted to travel and give speeches. He wanted me to refer him when I was too busy, and he\u2019d pay me a commission. He loved my topic and said he could represent me well. I was deeply flattered. He charmed me. A few months later, we sat at my dining room table for most of a day. I taught him my content. I shared my tips, my tricks, my tools of the trade. I had clients ready for him. I was busy. I needed help. He was eager to start. I was proud to help this ambitious young man launch. My wife and I dropped him at the airport for his flight back home. He disappeared into the airport, and I asked my wife, \u201cWhat did you think?\u201d She paused. \u201cI think he probably beats his wife,\u201d she said. \u201cNo. You got him all wrong,\u201d I said. \u201cBesides, he\u2019s not married.\u201d \u201cHe\u2019s the kind that would,\u201d she said. \u201cBe careful.\u201d Something alarmed her. Two years later, at the window of my Greenbrier hotel room, his business manager called. Their partnership had just ended over a money dispute. I learned that as he was sitting at my dining room table, he\u2019d take breaks and call in disbelief that I was giving him all my content. He was sending lists of my customers, and the next day he began calling them saying \u201cI can give you Cam Marston\u2019s presentation much cheaper. I have all his materials.\u201d He took many clients, never told me, never shared the commissions. It had been a part of his plan since my phone rang that day in Chicago. The business manager now wanted a pound of flesh after being cheated by him, too. Today, he\u2019s well known in the industry. He\u2019s busy. I\u2019m told he delivers a good presentation. And he should since it\u2019s my content. If this story ended in justice, I\u2019d tell you his absence of ethics caught up to him. But I don\u2019t know that. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s happened to him. For years I\u2019ve avoided hearing his name, and even today his name tastes like bile in my mouth. I need to forgive him. It would release me from this anger I\u2019ve held for so long. So, with great difficulty, here, now, today, I forgive you. You will probably never hear this, but I forgive you. I still ache to pound your face. If we ever meet again, you should be afraid. You made me feel used and stupid and embarrassed and cheated and you cost me some of my livelihood. You conned me out of my trust. I won\u2019t ever forget it but, as of right now, I forgive you. This commentary is not inspirational. This is not pretty. Forgiveness won\u2019t help him but\u2026I sure hope it helps me. I\u2019m Cam Marston and I\u2019m just trying to keep it real. ","author_name":"Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston","author_url":"https:\/\/cammarston.com\/keepin-it-real-with-cam-marston\/","html":"