I want to talk more about my friend, Mack…
It hurt to learn that he got himself into big trouble with some serious charges.
Mack is like many prison inmates. Much of his life is a big secret. Very few prisoners reveal much of themselves for fear of being seen as weak, or of being hurt in the long run, if they expose their vulnerable areas.
There were a few times many months ago when Mack actually went to a couple of chapel services. He even attended a Christian movie (I think he went to see "Moses"). And while I am not trying to paint a sympathetic portrait of a man who, like me, is doing time for murder, there were many factors in his earlier life which put him on this dead-end road to prison.
Mack grew up with too much against him. And while many survived such opposing forces as an alcoholic parent, beatings and physical and emotional abuse, yet still go on to be mature adults and good citizens, not everyone does. Mack did not. He succumbed to his environment. He wandered homeless, thinking that he was an outcast, that his life was useless. He did a string of odd jobs for cash. He often felt that his life didn't count.
D.B.
Mack is like many prison inmates. Much of his life is a big secret. Very few prisoners reveal much of themselves for fear of being seen as weak, or of being hurt in the long run, if they expose their vulnerable areas.
There were a few times many months ago when Mack actually went to a couple of chapel services. He even attended a Christian movie (I think he went to see "Moses"). And while I am not trying to paint a sympathetic portrait of a man who, like me, is doing time for murder, there were many factors in his earlier life which put him on this dead-end road to prison.
Mack grew up with too much against him. And while many survived such opposing forces as an alcoholic parent, beatings and physical and emotional abuse, yet still go on to be mature adults and good citizens, not everyone does. Mack did not. He succumbed to his environment. He wandered homeless, thinking that he was an outcast, that his life was useless. He did a string of odd jobs for cash. He often felt that his life didn't count.
D.B.