“Convicted”​ Inspiration: Part 2

This is part 2 of 3 of my experience at Dixon Correctional Center — part 1 here: https://www.linkedin.com/post/edit/6612883225230524416/

Since I was a kid, I envisioned something like this for my life: have two married parents, family holidays, vacations, play sports, go to college, start a career, get married, have kids, etc. Of course one of the guarantees in life is that it doesn’t work out the way you dream of it. We all have some expectations, hopes, and dreams-or at the very least an idea of an ideal future.

When I walked through those prison gates and into the yard, I tried to imagine life inside. I wondered about the stories of the men who were confined here. It was a miserably cold day, which only added to the physical and literal chill of the place.

As I sat at my table with the other sharks and prepared for men to start pitching their ideas, an older gentleman nervously made his way to the front of the room. He was just under six feet tall, looked like he was in his sixties, slightly overweight, hair slicked back and graying a bit on the sides. When he looked out at the crowd, his gaze and demeanor somehow demanded respect.

This inmate, whose name was Johnny, started talking about his past and the fact that he needed to fight for everything from as far back as he could remember. Not figuratively fight either-as he told us this, he got into a fighting stance and said that until this prison program, if someone was talking to him, he assumed they were coming for him, so he was ready to get them first. Johnny ended his backstory by saying he has been incarcerated for over forty-four years for murder. He was deeply sorry for his mistake, and he was dedicating his time left on earth to help others have the opportunity to be reformed and get a second chance at life.

This man has become an expert on State of Illinois law and is working from inside the prison to help change certain laws and give other prisoners on lesser charges a chance to be rehabilitated and get back to living a productive life. Near the end of his talk, Johnny shared that he hoped through his project to build a network of people around the state and transform the law from inside the prison out. He has more than three hundred years left on his sentence, and he said if he can change the reality for others, that would be something he could be proud of.

When I heard that statement, I just couldn’t take it-I mean, here is a guy who has been fighting all his life, has made some terrible mistakes, is owning and living with them, has been in jail for over forty-five years, with a few hundred years left . . . and his idea? To help others get rehabilitated. This is a man and an idea I can get behind. Here was a guy that was still a fighter, but this time fighting for those who needed someone to fight for them.

My revelation after that presentation was remembering something my teacher said back to me in college: Everything in life is what you make of it. And Johnny was choosing to make something of his time left; despite all that may have happened, his choice was to make himself someone who can serve others.

No matter what is going on in your life, what are you making of it?

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.