Rich Mauro graduated with honors from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts. He was awarded "Excellency in Cinematography" for his first short film at NYU which went on to be nominated for a student Academy Award. After being diagnosed with Cancer, he spent many years being treated with chemotherapy. During this time he began his journey of recovery and devoting his focus on writing. His latest screenplay "Saints and Soldiers" is a story about mercy. In a very personal and tragic way Richard learned about mercy only recently. His mother, father, and grandmother had just walked out of church. It was a beautiful sunny day and they stopped on the sidewalk to talk to friends. Near where they stood was the church parking lot. An old lady, in a rush to leave the parking lot, jumped into her car, put it in gear, and stepped on the accelerator. She had intended to put the car into forward, but had carelessly put it into reverse, instead. The car jerked backwards toward the sidewalk. Surprised the old lady tried to brake, but her foot slipped off the brake and hit the accelerate hard. The car lurched back, accelerating at great speed about twenty feet before hitting his mother, father and grandmother. That day, they all died. The grief and anger he experienced when he was told was indescribable. One careless person was responsible for wiping out his entire family. How do you forgive such carelessness. He didn’t want to forgive anybody. He wanted to lash out, make that person pay for the pain they caused him. He was set on vengeance, not mercy. But God had a different plan. At his parent’s wake he was sitting by their caskets, greeting people, but still feeling pretty sorry for himself. At one moment he looked up, and an old lady entered the viewing room. He had never seen this person before in his life and he’ll never forget what she looked like. She was dressed respectfully, but she was crumbled over with grief. Her eyes were red and her face was wet with tears. Suddenly, he knew who she was. This was the person that had killed his parents. How dare she come to their wake. He didn’t care if she was a frail little old lady, he tightened my fists and wanted to strangle her. But she was brave. As soon as she caught his eye, she walked directly to him. Her gait was a bit unsteady, but he could see in her eyes the resolute grief. When the moment came and he was face-to-face with her, suddenly something came over him. All he could do was stand, lean over, and hug her. And then we both cried tears of sorrow and joy. Sorrow makes sense at a wake. But why joy? It could be argued that his little old lady deserved some sort of punishment for what she had done in killing his parents, even if it was an accident. And it could be argued that he was deserving of God’s judgement for his unforgiving, hateful attitude towards her. Yet at the moment they embraced they did NOT get what we deserved—— punishment and judgement. Instead they were given mercy. At the same time they got what they did not deserve, the grace and joy of forgiveness. The feelings he had at that moment for her were inexpressible and he held onto her for the longest time. That is the way God works. In his own power he didn’t have the strength to forgive the person who killed his parents. But God forgave her, and in turn God gave him the mercy to do the same. Sometimes we are gods and sometimes we are monsters. That’s the story of When We Were Gods. The story reveals how God’s mercy can prevail in the darkest shadows and the deepest cracks. Link to this story https://vimeo.com/433210289