Becoming a Better Person Through Forgiveness and Second Chances

At one point or another in our lives, I think we’ve all experienced those dark moments. Some people have had darker moments than others, but it seems like the natural way of the world is to have times of trouble plague even the best of us and usually at the most inopportune times. I, like most people, have had my share of moments and bad decisions and these past six months I’ve found myself in many a dark corner. It’s always a battle to get out of these corners because the darkness has a way of manipulating you and deceiving you, sometimes in the most purest of forms. That is one of the reasons why I decided to seriously write a letter to a prison inmate.

Life is about second chances and about forgiveness. Every single one of us has made a bad decision in our lives and we all deserve another chance. One moment in time does not define who you are for the rest of your life. The main people you need to forgive are the ones you truly love, including yourself, but there are also so many people out there that could use a kind word. That includes people in prison. I’m not saying that one needs to write to a serial killer or to those locked away for committing offenses against children, but there are so many young men and women out there that got caught in a bad situation before they even had a chance at life. Most of these people lose everything while they sit in their prison cells and watch the world forget them. You may be saying, “Well they made their decision and now they have to live with the consequences.” Yes that’s true, but all of you people against this type of compassion don’t have to worry because the prisoners will most definitely have to live with the consequences for the rest of their lives. It’s going to follow them everywhere they go and no matter what they do from here on out it’s going to affect every life decision they try to make because it’s going to be on their records whenever they try to find housing, or get a job, or find someone to love them. So what’s wrong with trying to bring a little compassion and forgiveness to this already cruel world?

I’m trying to realize that things are sometimes bigger than myself and there’s already enough self-centered, selfish people in this world… I don’t really need to add myself to that list, though I slowly felt myself drifting that way. I want to try and do some meaningful things in my life and you have to start somewhere because it’s not like one single huge opportunity to change the world is just going to fall into your lap. I need to realize there are little things that can be done on a day to day basis and by random chance I came upon a ‘write to an inmate’ site. So I have thus picked out an inmate whom seems genuine and wrote them a letter. They may end up not even writing back or they may just try to manipulate me into sending them money or cigarettes. But who knows, maybe I will be able to have an impact, or they may have an impact on me. Maybe it will help me to expand my outlook on life and gain a different perspective. I’ll never know if I don’t try different things. So I wrote in all honesty and with the utmost respect and hopefully one day I will receive a letter back from them… and if not, at least hopefully it made them smile for a split second while they tried to survive in their own dark corner.