On today's date, November 21st, back in 2008 Cam Newton was arrested for stealing a student's laptop computer while attending the University of Florida, and was charged with felony counts of burglary, larceny and obstructing justice.
Today, on the nine year anniversary, Cam is bringing attention to the incident in an effort to show that it's possible to learn from your mistakes and grow as a person.
The Carolina Panthers' QB posted a photo of his mugshot on instagram with a lengthy caption that explains how he thought his life was over nine years ago.
The caption reads,
"I contemplated posting this and even reluctant about it, but as I think about my life and the MANY things I'm THANKFUL for, I want to be an OPEN book so people can here my testimony and learn from the FLAWS and mistakes I MADE!"
"On this day 11/21/2008 I was arrested for a stolen laptop and I'm sure your asking yourself where is he going with this story."
"The moral of the story is this ... on this date I THOUGHT my life and my career was OVER and the fact that I had shamed my family with the media coverage surrounding this situation I vowed to myself on this day (9 years ago) that 'I will be BETTER from this situation'."
"What you must learn from this story is this: If you live your life listening to what OTHER people are saying what you should do AND NOT YOUR OWN, shame on YOU!"
"I can honestly say to you today that NO one gave me a chance to succeed down bad in my situation and if I would have listened to those people that said i CAN'T, WHO KNOWS where I would be today. So i'm EXTREMELY THANKFUL FOR GOD's mercy, grace and FAVOR over my L1FE; so if I can do it with my circumstances surely you can do it and be WHATEVER YOU WANT TO BE with HARD WORK and PERSISTENCE!"
Cam ultimately struck a plea deal and all charges were dropped after he completed a pretrial diversion program. He then transferred to Binn College in Texas before eventually signing with the Auburn Tigers where he won a national championship and was crowned the Heisman trophy winner.
Coming off a bye week, Cam and the Panthers, 7-3, will travel to New York this weekend for a matchup against the Jets on Sunday.