A few days ago, I sat in front of the television watching the news when a low voice tried its best to overshadow the noise that’s constantly in the day room. Everyone around me scurried to hear what he had to say, and somebody finally asked him to repeat himself. He did better, he walked over to where we were and reiterated his statement.
It turned out that he was a recovering drug addict who had been clean for years, but stress, discouragement, and depression caused him to relapse. In the process of getting drunk, he tried a drug he’d given up decades before (meth), the end result was not good. He found himself sick, dehydrated, gaunt faced, and overwhelmed with the heat in the cell, which he could not fix himself to get out of for paranoia.
After a three day of bad reactions, and a week of recovering, and self examination, he addressed the entire dorm and apologized for his actions. He admitted his failings, and regretted disappointing so many people who expected better out of him. He apologized to his cell mate, and promised to do better and hold himself to a higher standard.
I was simply amazed at his humility, and contrition. In this place men would rather die than to be proven wrong, or corrected. For him to do such a thing so openly sowed that he wanted better, and didn’t want to make excuses or disappoint anyone. In my 19 years, I have seen men who can’t read past an 8th grade reading level argue with men who holds master’s degree over matters they know nothing about. This is the place where for the sake of public image a man would rather lie to one thousand men than to speak the truth and be at peace within himself.
I salute that man for publicly owning up to his slip ups. I only wish some of our political and religious leaders would be so brave.
Kudos to Bear!