Letters to the editor for Feb. 20
How redemption happens
I served a 30-year sentence in Washington prisons. Through the decades I watched young men come up behind me: broken, bruised, twisted, miserable human beings. They start out doing their time blaming others, fussing, fighting, ducking, dodging and flimflamming. They wake up every morning hating where they are and spend the rest of the day feeling sorry for themselves.
However, with few exceptions, these twisted, defective, miserable young punks run out of hate and self-pity. At some point they turn a corner and face up to what they did. They accept responsibility for their own actions. That’s the first step: owning the pain and sorrow they feel. Once they do that, they quickly realize how much they hurt their family. Then they connect with the pain they caused to people they committed violence against, and to their family and friends, and to the wider community.
Once they plug in to that sorrow, they’re motivated to make themselves better people. Pain and sorrow are what fuel the transformation — the desire to do some good for the world. Then they reach back to the younger ones coming in and mentor them through the process. If you want to practice doing positive community service, there are plenty of opportunities in prison. And over time you realize that it’s the connection with others, built through love, trust and kindness, that really matters in life. People being kind and helping one another is what makes the world go around.
‘Number the Stars’ production shows courage
I had the honor of recently seeing the Olympia Family Theater production of “Number the Stars.” The company is to be applauded for its portrayal of life under the Nazis during wartime Denmark.
As the son of a Holocaust survivor, who grew up in Krakow, Poland, and survived the death camps Auschwitcz and Bergen-Belsen, I can attest to the fear people faced. The OFT provides an opportunity to show how courage can overcome fear — and provides a message for these times.
Time for change
Regarding the recent shootout at the Third and Pine McDonald’s, Seattle’s latest version of Gunfight at the the OK Corral: Once again we see the results of our current justice system, a system so flawed it enables the lawless to thrive as repeat offenders. It’s also a system that constantly places the public in danger, forces the police to put their lives on the line and allows the defense lawyers to plea for lenient sentences. And let’s not forget the spineless judges who hide behind archaic sentencing guidelines when handing out their decisions.
Isn’t it time to lock up these criminals forever and institute term limits on judges?