16 and Forever

Those of you who know me won’t be surprised at what I’m about to say because you’ve heard me say it hundreds of times: life is what we make of it. When we look for the positive, we find positive, and when we look for negatives, negative finds us. One of the secrets of life. So simple, yet so many people never realize this.

Years ago I used to tutor juveniles and eventually transitioned to mentoring. The moment where I realized that mentoring was what I wanted to do, my life changed. It is a beautiful thing to help someone in need and to see them overcome and grow. This is what life is all about. It is the meaning of happiness.

Of the many juvenile offenders I’ve mentored, Tim is one who has overcome and grown into a man with confidence and direction in life. When I first met him, he was a deeply introverted 16 year old facing a long sentence. An eternity for all intents and purposes for a boy of 16 years.

In those early days, depression often seized upon him, and he struggled mightily to move forward from day to day. I remember those times. They were dark days for him. I’d spend time with him daily, mostly us sitting at a table and talking over random subjects like science and astronomy or stocks. Especially stocks. Tim took to learning stocks with eagerness and concentrated devotion. He has been the astute student and to this day drives himself to understand and succeed. I’ve been involved with stocks for 20 years now, and we often discuss trading strategies and game theorize geo-politics in order to discern the future direction of equities. I love our discussions and find them fulfilling and meaningful.

During his early days, when we weren’t engaged in discussion, we silently fought one another in games of chess. When Tim transferred to another institution, we continued our epic chess games through the mail. Tim is a deep thinker, and as time progressed he nourished that through college classes and self studies. Opportunities that weren’t always available to him.

An area of interest for Tim is writing. He has spent his time incarcerated developing his skills, and with his permission today, I am happy to post a work he penned a little while back. It is about his incarceration as seen and experienced by him and presented in his own words. He sees the world through a lense shaped by incarceration, from being a young boy alone in This Dark World, to the adult he is today. It’s a view that’s sometimes shaded, sometimes pessimistic, but always circles around toward hope and understanding. Even now, when I read his words, I am impacted by how much he has overcome since those early days. I am happy to offer this to you, and I am proud of the man Tim has become.

Tim will finish his sentence in just under two years from now, a long journey that he once told me he couldn’t see the end to. His family supports him, and all his future plans include them. I can’t wait to spend time with his as a free man, and do all the great things we’ve talked about doing over these years. Tim is an excellent example of how through seeming impossibility, hope, change, and goodness prevail.

It has been a long journey for him.

I’m proud to count him a friend.

You can read Tim’s writing here.

*If you enjoyed this post, please like and share with your friends. And, if you’d like to leave a comment for today’s guest writer, Tim, know that I will gladly get it to him. In the meantime, I’ll keep writing for you! Also, if you know of other blogs written by inmates, please let me know because I enjoy reading what other guys write. Frankly, it helps keep me sane.

—Christopher

6 thoughts on “16 and Forever

  1. Mentoring, playing chess, caring for animals, discussions of science, astronomy, and stock-market analysis demonstrate mind-fertility, intelligence, self-control, and intentionality in both parties. Such inmates are the candidates worthy of shock probation or commuting of sentences, more empowered to contribute to society than the fortunate who never had to struggle. Thanks go to Christopher for publicizing Tim’s handwritten thought-stream, unaided by a word-processor’s editing capability. Best hopes and wishes are deserved by both.

    1. Anonymous One

      Mr. edwarddriess: I am 100% in-sync with your observations. Too bad there isn’t a way to capture the talent in a more meaningful way besides keeping inmates in a dead-end environment. Seems to me that recognition of these qualities through state controlled dedicated programs and follow-up efforts could contribute to keeping the repeat offender population down.

      Positive encouragement vs punitive reactions.

      1. If any reader would have sustainable interest, motivation, time, and self-support (i.e., having no need for money) sufficient to offer a program for inmates of detention centers, jails, and prisons that might significantly increase rates of rehabilitation, I wrote an Amazon-available book presenting a rudimentary outline for such a program years ago titled Implications and Applications of the Near Death Experience, the manuscript for which I will freely supply-on-request to any so interested, if contacted for that by email at eriess@cinci.rr.com using “Manuscript” in the Subject line. [I believe the manuscript can be downloaded from ResearchGate at https://www.researchgate.net/search.Search.html?query=Implications+and+Applications+of+the+Near+Death+Experience&type=publication%5D – Ed Riess

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