Pep Talk In The Pit
March 5, 2014
I was talking today to a 21 year old young man from Baltimore, MD. As I listened to his story about how he’s grown up with drug dealers, con men, and gang members as his idol, it struck me that his life was nearly over before it ever got started. I tried to explain to him that the choices you make and the people you idolize ultimately will reflect who and what you’ll become. He said that those choices were forced upon him, and to a certain extent, he was right. But I also told him that you don’t have to be poor, you don’t have to be illiterate, and you don’t have to be fearful of other people who look like you. You don’t have to embrace poisonous messages you see on TV or in the news. You don’t have to have low expectations. On this planet, education unlocks the door to a life well lived. That should be your goal and your aim. I told him, don’t go through life wanting to be entertained; seek to be enlightened and empowered. Seek to be a person of character. Seek to be a person of competence. Seek to be a person who loves justice. I told him that his potential was great; it’s just that he had to believe it first in order for it to be true. And that he must seek others who are like minded. I told him my family and I have suffered immensely. I told him, look around this room, what do you see -- mostly guilty men who are misguided about nearly every aspect of life. I told him that in any civilized society, we have to trust one another, and that the law of the land covers only two subjects when you really break it down, and that is: 1) don’t bother other people, and 2) don’t bother other people’s property. When you respect the law you respect yourself, if it is a just law. In order for this society to succeed, the judicial system must be just. The judicial shouldn’t make us fearful of trusting that which it pretends to be. No matter how much my family and I have suffered because of my unjust incarceration, I cannot and will not allow it to destroy me. I can only continue to endure hardship as a good soldier until my day of freedom and liberation comes.
