Change on the inside
Dear editor:
I would like to respond to the letter from Brian McIntyre of Friday, Sept. 6.
I feel I am qualified to answer this one, as I had a son who did drugs and ended up in jail. Naturally, the convicts forget their parents while they are using drugs, lying about it, and stealing to get the next cash to score another hit. Then they go to jail or a rehab center and tell us "it's going to be different this time," only to end up in jail again. And as my friends comforted me and prayed with me that my son would really change his life, his "friends" had more influence. Mothers and dads, I know your tears and your prayers; I've kept every letter my son wrote to me from the different prisons and jails he was in and out of.
I, unlike my son's friend's parents, never got him a lawyer, made him take the public defender, because he had lied to me about the circumstances of his arrests. My saying was "If you're big enough to do the crime, you can do the time." I taught my child right from wrong, but you can't influence them after a certain age; their buddies are more important. I would send him no more than $10 to $20 to be placed on his books and I would write and visit. I could spot a good con job even in his letters. Never did I post bond -- I wasn't going to lose my home over his mistakes.
My son got a "wake up" call on his first night in a prison over close to Brinkley: the man in the bunk got his throat sliced by another convict. My son discovered the inmates ran the prison and order was kept. He met some fellow inmates who did a Bible study and they really changed his life. I thank God for the inmates who were doing life in prison, who really turned my son's life around.
Brian may not like the system of justice, but he has choices to do right, both in and out of prison. The system has not abandoned the inmates, there is a choice for each and every one of those convicted of a crime. Maybe Brian should start looking for the ones inside the prison system turning their lives around. I personally know that Alcoholics Anonymous and different churches visit the prisons and jails. Make a start Brian to change on the inside so that when you return to the outside you can find new playmates.
Mothers, my knees grew sore praying at night and in the mornings. Please do not lose faith and hope that God will place someone in your child's life to turn them around. Sometimes it takes an outsider to change them.
L.J. Gibson
Hot Springs
Editorial on 09/09/2019