Change

 I worked in correctional facilities for 32 years. I met plenty of men who treated the experience as a revolving door. They got into trouble based on lots of factors: poor family relationships, generational poverty, drug abuse and addiction, and poor educational outcomes to name a few. Some, I thought, incapable of breaking the cycle they were in. I hoped that age and maturity in them would prove me wrong. Some died before they grasped the fragile nature of a life of crime. Others did eventually see a way to change. I think the attitude of lock them up and throw away the key is ignorant and shortsighted in most cases. I’m not the man I was 40 years ago. You are not the person you were 10, 20, 30 or more years ago. Life and experience changes each of us in ways subtle and gross. So, when you are quick to judge remember you don’t know the path they have walked to get where they are and you don’t know their vision of the future. Judge people not by what they say so much as by what they do. The old adage is true. Actions speak louder than words. Take a few minutes to read this. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/11/02/prison-gang-prosecutor-holocaust-friend/