My Friend Al

The day to day life of prison was, I can best describe, a fight to stay above the maddening emotional circus that surrounded me. I could face close to 30 different breakdowns involving those around me any given day. One problem could be so small as a guy throwing his tray on the ground and screaming at the cop in charge of serving all because the inmate in front of him got more green beans than he did (true story!). Or they could be so big as someone having to stand in the middle of 100 sweaty, violence craving men because there was a power struggle for a TV remote. 

This day to day battle with sanity only got worse as this stuff became normal to me. It is scarey when you wake up one morning and you expect to have so much drama go on and if it doesn't happen within the first hour you think something is amiss. It's crazy really. One minute things could be going so well and in a matter of seconds it all turn real bad; then it's either hide or show your metal. 

I can vividly remember an incident involving one of my best friends in there, Al. He is such a strange case. He's so smart, able to interact with a wide range of people, and is a genius at making money and making everyone around him better. Yet he was so self-destructive. That's not my point tough. Let me just say this, the dude is a good guy, really. After being in Leavenworth for the last 12 years - to include the years when people were being stabbed and carted off in ambulances every other day - he's acquired a bit of understanding as to how the ebb and flow of a prison environment plays out. 

Here he is one day, in the midst of some 80 white guys all ready to beat up his friend Rocky. Now Rocky is a hot head who is a stone cold killer - literally. Well Rocky had put himself in a precarious situation by claiming totalitarian authority over a certain TV. The white boys who wanted to watch that TV didn't like the way Rocky bullied them. And what happens when a group of guys get pushed around long enough? They band together. 

Rocky is getting ready to pitch a fast pitch softball game and he's on the mound while this mass of tattooed convicts congregates over to a corner of the rec yard. And they're looking like trouble. Al is the "rep," that is the leader of a group of guys from Oklahoma. But he's the only one out there out of the 30 or so guys from Oklahoma - goes to show you how much love they all had for Rocky. But Al isn't about to say, "Go get him" and by "get him" I mean go ahead and take 20 guys and beat Rocky to a bloody pulp on the pitcher's mound. No, instead I watch as Al, this man I lived with for over a year, performs a speech better than any politician stumping for a primary. He convinces these guys that it's in their best interest to simply ask Rocky to watch a movie next time all while persuading them to move on and examine their own behaviors. 

Now that's crazy. But it was the way Al could work a crowd into thinking that they were doing what was best for themselves all while doing what was best for Al. This guy was good. But I tell you all this because he was good because Al would always consider the greater good of everyone. He would do what was best for each person collectively. Which is a great thought for me as I transition back into society. I have to think about the greater good of my community. 

There are some crazy stories I can relive from my days behind the walls there on the hill at Leavenworth. This seemed fitting as I sit here thinking about taking a job building homes for underprivileged families. I want to do what is for the greater good of those around me, those who I encounter on a daily basis should always be uplifted by us Christians. Al, God bless him, struggled with his Christianity at times but when it came to doing the right thing for other people he never failed to act Christ-like. Which is why I continue to use him as an example in my life - even if the madness is toned down a bit out here.