It was Sunday morning. I walked into the gym prepared to listen to my favorite podcast. In the center of the screen was Spotify’s suggestion to listen to a Trevor Noah interview from The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett. I hadn’t thought of Trevor Noah in several years. Before I found God, I was convinced that knowing the most about the news, especially the liberal leaning news, would make me sound more intelligent, so I often watched his show, The Daily Show. Until I saw it flash by in the ad for this Spotify interview, I didn’t even know he had left the show. A quick google revealed that it happened almost two years ago.
The title of the interview was, “Trevor Noah: My Depression Was Linked to ADHD! Why I Left The Daily Show!” I decided to listen, not because I necessarily thought that I would learn from him how depression and ADHD are connected, but because hearing people’s perspectives on topics like this often gives me insight into myself and others. And as it turned out, it did, even though I didn’t even get to the part of the interview that was about depression and ADHD. God had something else for me.
When I clicked on the interview, it opened to a spot about 30 minutes in when Noah was discussing his mom being shot. I have not done further research on the matter or even listened to the entire two-hour interview. Instead, I only have his account from the 20-minute section I listened to during which I heard him talk about his experience of his mother being shot in the head. He talked about being sure she was going to die. He talked about the miracle of her survival. It was only after about 10 minutes that I realized that the man who shot her was his step-father.
Because of laws in South Africa, his step-father didn’t go to jail. Domestic violence is not treated the same as other violence. And, although the United States court system is not quite so lenient in their treatment of those who inflict domestic violence upon others, I don’t think we are as far off as we would like to believe we are. Noah even mentioned this. But, that's not the interesting part.
What I found most interesting about the interview was how Noah talked about forgiveness. He described his mom as a religious woman. The internet tells me she is Christian, and that there is misinformation that she converted to Judaism. But, some sources also say she is Jewish. In an interview, I think Noah said she converted. I am honestly not that concerned about the reality for the purposes of what I am writing here. What was fascinating is that Noah’s mom’s response to being shot in the head by her spouse was to fully forgive him and to teach her son forgiveness.
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