Advice from an Inmate

I went to prison last week to visit my brother for Christmas. Going to prison is an extremely humbling experience. It imparts a strange sense of gratefulness that is hard to come by.

Yes, prison is rough. After 3 inmates escaped from my brother's prison, everyone there was kept inside on lockdown for two months. Two months without light of day, without fresh air, without room to move. Yet while Zak told me this story, he was not upset. He was grateful, in fact, that he had books to read, a radio to listen to, and guys around to hang out with.

Standing in line to warm up greasy, individually-packaged, microwavable sandwiches, two prisoners were chatting:

"Yeah man, I like my bunk right now. And the guys around me are cool. And it is such good weather. I really have nothing to complain about."

He has nothing to complain about. And he is in prison. How come those of us outside of prison walls have such a hard time saying this?

Prisoners have a different outlook on life. Not better or worse than the rest of us--just different. But luckily, they have the ability to influence lives as much as the rest of us. Take the ending of Zak's last letter to me. Genuinely (and humorously), he states, "I love you Ammy. You are the best sister. Tell your students 'Prison is not cool!'"

So from his bunk at a Kingman prison 3000 miles away, Zak is influencing my life and the lives of my students. Thank you, Zak. You have taught me that beautiful things can happen when we accept each other and support each other.