NOTE: This is a new series I’ll be doing on Things That Matter – the nonpolitical aspects of life.
It was Sunday morning when I visited a jail in San Diego County to see a young person in there for a dumb probation violation that he acknowledges as such. This was not a “hard” lockup for hardened prisoners but a jail. I was there with his step dad who loves him very much. They bring all of the inmates whose relatives signed up for visit out and they sit in a yard with their family to talk for a bit.
After the visit was over we headed to the exit gate and the guard at the door said to us: “Thank you for coming.”
And I said, “Thank you.”
And he said, “It’s good for them to see that there are people who care enough to come out to see them.”
And I said, “That’s very nice of you to say that.”
And this guard then said: “They’re people, just like you and me, and they made a mistake. They made a mistake and they’re here. There are lots of people who’ve made mistakes and haven’t been caught yet.”
I said: “How did you find out about me?”
And he said, “I’ve made mistakes in my life too. Thanks for coming.”
THAT is what I call a dispay of spirit…that “spark”…from someone who gets it.
He made my day — or, rather decade.
And how lucky those mostly young inmates are to have someone so thoughtful in authority in their midst.
cloud graphic via shutterstock.com
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.