There’s a tribe in Africa that believes every person is born good. When someone does something hurtful and wrong in the community, they take the person to the center of the village, and the entire tribe comes and surrounds him. Each person tells the man every good thing they can remember about him from the time he was born. Because they believe he’s just forgotten.”
Liam dropped his head to his chest. I knew tears were falling. Tears welled in my eyes too…Our culture doesn’t hold that practice, so we have to remind ourselves about all our good qualities on our own.”
I had given the officer a journal and two yellow golf pencils, and he unlocked the door on Liam’s side and handed those to him now. I said to Liam, “This week, list all your good qualities in your journal. Fill pages.” I assigned this to many inmates and never tired of seeing a man’s face light up the following week when he reported his discoveries. – Tuesdays in Jail
