🔺Trigger alert!🔺
Prisoners are people too.
Some of them have done really really bad things.
They are able to call #Samaritans when they are feeling distressed or have suicidal thoughts.
When I listen to them, I think…
If I was born in the family they were born in…
If I grew up in the environment they grew up in…
If I suffered the way they suffered.. from abuse, poverty, trauma, neglect, violence…
If I was treated the way they were treated…
If I grew up in their shoes, maybe.. just maybe, I might do all the things they did.
Maybe it’d be me in that prison cell, with nothing to live for.
I am so deeply privileged to have had a safe and secure childhood, knowing that I mattered, and that there were people who loved and wanted the best for me.
That’s given me the best competitive advantage, and put me miles ahead of anyone else in making my way through life.
Of course, there’s still far to go in elevating women and minorities in the professional workplace, but compared to so so many people in the rest of the world – I am unbelievably fortunate.
“They should bring back the death penalty.”
“What a useless !^%” they should just rot in jail.”
“Humanity is better without them.”
These people are human beings too.
Perhaps if someone had shown them #kindness when they were younger, and showed them that they mattered, and they’re worthy to be loved just like anyone else… perhaps their lives would have been different.
We need more #empathy.
I think that would truly make the world a better place. 🌹