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Thursday, October 4, 2012

Moral Disconnect

There was a heated outburst between me and two students in here over another inmate.  It all began when a recently released inmate – who these two guys regularly telephone – announced he’d looked the other student up on the internet and found out the man was in on a sex charge (specifically, he’d engaged in sex with a fifteen year-old girl).

I try to take guys as they are in here.  It’s too easy for me to make instant assessments of a man’s makeup without getting to know the man.  And, quite frankly, I am in no position to judge someone else’s criminal failures.  I had a seemingly perfect life which I recklessly risked.
The problem came about when the two “purveyors of virtue” decided everyone needed to know and everyone needed to ostracize the other man.  My friend DC came to me with it.  DC, never one to beat around the bush, told me “this is f---ing me up Larry.  He’s a good guy.  We can’t sign on to this.”  My thoughts exactly.

So I was sitting in my cut, USA Today crossword in hand, when the two approached me.  “We hate snitches, homos, and molesters”, they told me.  “That’s the way you’re supposed to roll in prison.”
Funny, I told them.  I knew at least three of the guys they run with are in on rape charges, and at least one puts the moves on young inmates in the bathroom.  Can you guess how the tension level rose?

The truth is this:  when drug dealers, or murderers, or even embezzlers think they’re better than someone else’s criminal failures they can’t see the biblical lag in their own eyes.  It’s like declaring half the country doesn’t like you because they like government handouts (sorry Mitt but that was butt dumb!).
I’m not an apologist for sex offenders.  They – like all of us – have to atone for their sins and bear consequences for their actions.  But, my faith tells me to be more Godly.  And that means seeing others as He sees me.

Living in here is tough.  It’s demeaning and lonely and at times dangerous.  Still, right is right and sometimes forgiveness matters more than anything.

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