By Guest Blogger Tenisha Waldo

Given the complex and at times perplexing nature of our society to uphold time-honored standards of evenhanded justice in an ongoing struggle between “right” and “wrong,” perhaps we have lost interest in or have willingly neglected the power of forgiveness.

Or maybe not. Activists and authors Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton are living testimonies to that notion. Jennifer, a native of North Carolina and mother of teenage triplets, suffered a brutal rape as a 22-year-old college student, for which Ronald was wrongly convicted and later exonerated. Ronald spent more than 10 years in prison before his persistent proclaiming of his innocence and the development of sophisticated DNA tests led to his freedom.

An unlikely friendship was born from the ordeal, and the two co-wrote the New York Times bestselling memoir, Picking Cotton.

Together, they have successfully lobbied state legislators to change compensation laws for the wrongly convicted. She is a member of the Actual Innocence Commission, the Constitution Project and Mother's for Justice. Ronald lives in North Carolina, and speaks frequently at colleges, universities and other groups about issues of witness identification and judicial reform, and the power of forgiveness.

So, we ask: to what extent do the ideals of redemption and compassion bear weight in our society? Have we lost our buoyancy, our ability to recover readily from the trying, unfortunate oddities and circumstances of life? Or are we more resilient than ever?

We hope Jennifer and Ronald can provide insight during this year’s conference.

Guest blogger Tenisha Waldo is a graduate student at the University of South Carolina, pursuing her master’s in mass communication.