Truth, Faith and Love
drawing by Akil Jahi
It was early September in a small, windowless cement block room with little in it other than half a dozen banks of hard plastic chairs. We the guests brought the feast, a clear plastic garbage bag cradling a careful selection of vending machine snacks in its bottom. Two garbage cans had been gussied up good for our long awaited visit: the overturned cans were both first covered with a large square of cardboard, and then topped with scratchy and stiff folded paper towels that had been carefully arranged so that their creases made a pleasing pattern on the makeshift table. We were seated on two banks of hard plastic chairs which had been arranged in a wide V. The V was too wide for all of us to be heard in the very loud room, so we screechily dragged one bank closer to the other with the tables in between. One of us gleefully dumped the goodies out on the festive tables – this type of feast was a very rare treat for him.
Another of us was the man of the hour. Abu had been all over the news for several days now. He had just learned he would live.
The celebration began. Abu read a poem about forgiveness, and said a few holy words. He used the word gods, not God, surprising me. I relaxed quite a bit after that - it hadn’t been easy for us to get there and I was quite nervous.
Then Abu sang “Amazing Grace”, and boy can that man sing! As far as I know he has had no musical training, but he put my thirty years of training to shame. The entire room went silent for his song, both the watchers and the watched.
You can read about what happened next in that room, a death row visiting room, in this post:
https://steemit.com/freedom/@owasco/freedom
That’s right. I am using this contest to pimp my previous post! Please go read it if you haven’t already, it would mean an awful lot to me if you did. It’s both a very important story and way past payout, so reading it is pressure-free. It is also the best story about hope, faith and love I have ever known. I had nothing to do with this story other than to see it with my own blessed eyes. Treat yourself – go read my post! And thanks for reading this one!
This is my entry to PHC's contest https://steempeak.com/contest/@zord189/powerhousecreativescontestastoryoffaithhopelovecontestdetails-62hbckl1qu
All images are my own unless otherwise stated.
Excellent continuation to your previous post @owasco, prayers to all involved. 🙏
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Thank you Uncle!
That's a great entry!
You include all thee here, a nice read. :)
Thank you! I am in awe of these men. I wrote one in between these two if you are interested, also past payout but a quick read. https://steempeak.com/freedom/@owasco/freedom-revisited
Thank you so much for stopping by!
Wow, sounds like you too are on quite the journey :)
True! Kind of obsessed actually. This is the third post I've written about them in a month. I just sent my second letter to Akil yesterday, and it had been thirty years or more since my last letter to anyone.
Thirty years! Wow, glad you're writing them again because you really are a great writer and what a shame if no letters! I just wrote two today! He'll be so happy to get the mail--I love receiving the handwritten ones :)
You can find the community announcement on Discord :) and it has also been shared on our FB Page and Twitter feed.
XOXOXOXOXOXO!
I haven't read this yet, since I haven't started writing mine yet. I don't want to get ideas from others' entries, but I'll be back to read and comment later. :) Congrats on the rally upvote!
I haven't encountered it yet but since you stated it about love in life. Maybe I'll try to look at it.
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@owasco
I don't know what to say, except that were I judging, this would most certainly win.
I certainly had no trouble knowing what I would write about when I saw the contest. These two men have infected me with their improbable joy.
I totally understand
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Excellent story..
And deeply coming from the heart.
Thanks for sharing with all of us and best of luck with the contest.
I feel blessed to have met them, and am more grateful for the little things I have than ever before, event the big things that irritate me.
Great one 😉
oh thank you! It's not my story though, I am but a messenger.
I had read the previous post about Abu and Akil. Prison is undoubtedly a transformative experience. It takes a big heart and a strong mind to turn that experience into something productive and inspiring.
It also takes a relatively "decent" system (if such thing can be conceived) to allow for some introspection and cultivation of virtues, even if only forced by impending death or endless isolation from the world.
It was good that you shared their stories and their voices with us.
A couple of days ago I met with a young man, 16, who spent 8 months behind bars for a crime he did not commit.
He was very lucky to be out "so soon" and in one piece, but he is too young to understand the magnitude of the second chance he got. I plan to meet him again and collect his stories. Maybe he will indirectly teach some others.
Abu and Akil have been taking courses on mediation. They met and gave a presentation to some state luminaries recently. I don't really know enough about it to write a post, but I know they are hoping to help reform other units and prisons according to what they have learned and accomplished in this one.
Yes, second chances are often not appreciated by one so young, perhaps he now even thinks that second chances come easily. I hope not. Your contact with him is sure to be valuable. Maybe we will hear some of his stories here.