I used to be just like you. Working as hard as hard as I could to stay safe, stay comfortable and stay content every day. Through the endless barrage of society’s flashes and bangs, I was horrified of pain or the experience of any loss. I did everything I could to numb the memories of suffering from my past. After so many years, the fear never lessened, but my desperation grew, and the meaninglessness of it all became more and more apparent. As the hollow feeling overwhelmed me, nothing and no one could stop me from doing what I felt was the only chance I had to feel anything meaningful again. With these actions, I shattered my world and left all I knew and loved forsaken. This is the state in which you will find 99% of the inmate population. Most of us will be despised by society for the rest of our lives. Some of our families have completely abandoned us. But no matter what level of exile we experience, nothing will ever fully purge us from the wretched guilt of our actions. I firmly believe that everyone has an innate longing for compassion and righteousness within them. Through the complexity of our fallen world we are swept away from this desire and become content with empty platitudes; bells and whistles of good intentions and moral posturing. We give a dollar to a homeless woman, a monthly check to a charity organization, we attend church fundraisers, we spend a few hours in a soup kitchen.

These small gestures, collectively, do achieve something. But do you feel the change? Can these token actions really satisfy our own need for what’s right? To make a real change, there must be a level of accountability not many people are comfortable with. There is no accountability from the soup ladle to a stranger’s bowl. There is no accountability from the number on a slip of paper. There is no accountability from the loose change in a plastic cup. We all want to be comfortable, but still position ourselves in a righteous way so at least we feel better about our miserable selves. But what satisfaction may come with making a real, powerful and sustained difference? What feeling of love and joy may come from uplifting someone from this pit they find themselves in? What if, from your earnest intervention, you find a brother or sister, mother or father, son or daughter, or even a grandparent you never knew you wish you had? The ones behind those bars are not just a distraction. We are not charity. We are the members of your community that have seen the bottom. If you reach down to grab one of our hands, prepare to be accountable to the changes you can and will make in someone else’s life, and prepare to discover a new and empowered side of who you are.