He was a young man, 21 years old. I could tell he was really trying to learn and he wanted to get better but the sadness and the weight of his troubles clouded present time so darkly that he had trouble seeing any goodness in his life. After the seminar he came up and thanked me for coming. I asked him what he had done that got him into trouble and he tearfully told me about pushing his wife. Now he was in jail. It wasn’t fair; he was sorry, he wanted to make something good out of his life. He didn’t want to be like his parents.
The last time he saw his dad the boy had gotten into trouble for letting the air out of his dad’s tires on the car. Seems like a bad thing for him to have done, but from the viewpoint of a kid it was a good way to stop his dad from going to the drug dealer for his next heroin fix. His dad made it to the dealer anyway and consequently also made it back into jail. His mom is in jail now too. The kid didn’t want to be like that and now here he is. Where is any hope for a decent life?
My passion is to help and to give people something that will help. I had the inmates doing examples and simple drills about fulfilling their obligations. They were into it; it was a noisy active course room where they were having fun learning something new. About ten minutes before I was done an Officer from the jail motioned from the back that he needed to say something. I let him interrupt.
He announced that the nurse was here to give the inmates their medications.
What is this? I couldn’t believe it. About half of the group of 60 men went out of the room like little kids getting an ice cream treat and stood in line while the nurse dispensed their medications. They want to believe that the meds will help them. While they were out I applauded the remaining men for taking care of themselves without medications. A few minutes later the others returned; quiet, calm, subdued, and numbed. How can they learn if they are drugged while studying? How can a person take charge of his life if he is in a drug haze? Where is help for a decent life?
There is hope. There is help. Something can be done about it.
Criminon is that hope. It offers the inmates a chance to sort out their life using the common sense guide laid out in a booklet by L. Ron Hubbard called THE WAY TO HAPPINESS. It contains powerful lessons that can help anyone improve their life.
My friend who runs the rehabilitation program in the jail met me after the seminar to get 100 applications to sign up the inmates for the course. There is hope. There is help. And there are many good people working to make things better.
Find out how easy it is to help by going to www.Criminon.org. Something can be done about it! You can help.
ML,
Carol Kingsley