The Mourners' Bench

Growing up wasn't easy for Aron Seaborn, the second oldest son of Northampton county sharecroppers. Despite an intense desire to attend school, Aron was relegated to child servitude to help sustain his growing family. At the age of six, Aron had to forego reading, writing and arithmetic to plow a mule alongside his older brother and father in the menacing elements of the North Carolina summers and winters. He quickly learned that survival trumped studies. Subsequently, the lessons he learned as