Tuesday, September 21, 2010

BEHIND BARS



I can't imagine being locked up behind bars! The noise, the constant hustle and bustle, the constant contact with people, with the anxiety of trying not only to survive another day but also another hour or a minute, even down to a second.

I have friend that is in prison, JB. No I didn't know him before he went to prison, however we have talked and mailed each other letters for years now. I can't help but to worry about him. I worry when I don't hear from him and I worry when I hear from him also. We are only friends for more than one reason obviously he is in prison for one main reason.

He has spent his entire 20's in prison. He will turn 30 this year in there it hurts me to know that while everyone else is celebrating the new year coming and the old one leaving, that JB will be sitting in his cell looking at the same four walls and the same people and the same fences and same guards. Even when he walks around its the same scenery and same people and same barb-wire.

OK I am not that naive I know he is in there for a reason and he was convicted for that reason. I'm sure the family of the victim isn't going to be thinking about him. Or worried about him, however I am. We are all human! We make mistakes!

This young boy has had to grow up in this cold hard place that he has to make home and soon on the last day of this year he will be turning 30. I went to "Dolly-Wood" on my thirtieth birthday and rode rides and spent time with my son and my sister. I had fun but when I think of how he will spend his thirtieth birthday it saddens me.

I know he put himself there. I know that this was his mistake and he has to pay the consequences. I know he sometimes has attitude and gets ill for no reason, but I can't say I wouldn't be the same way! In-fact I have bad days which I'm sure are no comparison to his bad days. I pray every night for my friend and wish him safety and comfort in knowing that he can always turn to me if he needs to talk. I know he has to survive the best way he can in there and I may not agree with his decisions but I am not God and and I will not judge him for them either.

4 comments:

  1. How did you get to know him? I'm very saddened about his situation. Just getting locked up inside your own room is hard what more in a prison cell. Please tell him to be strong. Whatever he did that sent him to that cell, i hope he already repented.

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  2. I tell him all the time to be strong. I met him through my youngest sister it's her brother in law. He has repented and tells me all the time he wishes he could go back fix it. Thank you Novie for your compassion and concern.

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  3. Thank you for being there for him. Many years ago I became the friend of one locked up in my home town and would actually take him out on Sundays and he would eat with us and go to church. He got out and after a year passed he came to my house one day and thanked me for being there for him. He was a satellite dish installer at the time. You may be the only reason he keeps his act together.

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  4. I am his friend no matter what. I know that he messed up his life in major way, but I also know he truly regrets and repents in daily.

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