Seeing the Light

I always ask the men mentor in prison the question when did they “see the light.” I've been quite surprised at the length of time it takes some people, even guys I highly admire.

My mentee at Northpoint prison learned quicker than anyone I have interacted with (other than the TPH Director Darryll Davis).

From SLC: “A year and a half into county jail. Two things happened: 1) I finally! hit rock bottom and my psychological self-defense mechanisms cracked open.

2) I've been a reader since I was knee high to a grasshopper. The jail I was in at the time only had a bookcase full of romance novels. Then, one day, a book on Transcendental Meditation from the 1970’s appeared in the bookcase. I knew nothing about meditation, but I devoured it.

Up to that moment at 27, I tragically (and embarrassingly) had little to no real internal self-awareness. I was mainly just externally aware and blindly reacting thru the lens of Autism. But, in those moments, I became self-aware, empowered and free.

My path of awakening began and now, 28 years later, I share this with you, my friend.”  

Hard to conceive our KY Parole Board deferred him three more years, just last year. To the Board: PEOPLE AGE OUT OF CRIME!