My name is Zachary Taylor and I will not let my past define me, in short, I come from a background that includes childhood trauma, abuse, neglect and homelessness. These unfortunate situations had an influence on my choices and decisions in life and they used to be my excuse for living a criminal lifestyle. Not anymore. I accept full responsibility of my actions and know that the choices I’ve made in my life whether good or bad are the reason for the outcome and consequences I’ve had to deal with. I am working toward being something more than what I’ve been. My passion to be the change that I want to see is the “why” to why I strive everyday to do and be better not just for myself, but for others too. In order to see a difference in this world it starts with me.
My beautiful wife Dawn is at the center of all that I do. I am truly blessed to have such a gift as her, to have someone who without a doubt believes in me so much plays a major role in my life. I wake up everyday at 5:00 a.m. no later than 5:30 a.m. and am on the phone with her by 6:01 a.m. She waits to take her last break on her night shift at the local Wal-Mart so that she is able to speak with me and give me the oppurtunity to start my day with hearing her voice and the chance to pray together. I’ve sat on this side of our journey and watched my wife work 3 jobs in order to maintain bills, mortgage, kids and everything else that life brings to us all on a daily basis and she does all this while going to school to recieve degrees in Psychology and doing ministry! She truly is the backbone to our family. We push each other to stay focused and are determined to be successful.
What are the problems that lead me to my current situation and incarceration? Let’s start with ME, MYSELF AND I. I was released from prison after serving 4 years and 8 months on August, 22, 2019 for the same thing that has me where I am now, which is making the choice to live a lifestyle that consisted of using and selling narcotics as well as carrying firearms, which continues to lead to my incarceration, nobody is to blame but me.
I was doing good after my release , holding down a job while living in a sober living house and eventually got into my own apartment and was able to get a vehicle, just when everything was going so well I got too comfortable, instead of me continuing to hit me kness and pray and give thanks for another day I started asking God to help me make it back to my apartment with the drugs and gun I had on me, I lost focus of what it was I was trying to do by making the choices to chase after drugs, money and women.
I know now that my way of thinking has to change, after serving more than 15 years of my life incarcerated behind these walls I’m realizing that I’m not only hurting myself but the ones I love as well and I’ve lost one of the most precious things we have that we can’t get back in this life, time. Those of us who have had to endure incarceration and the ones who have had to endure it with us know how difficult it is. For me being away from family as a painful affect, having to see our kids grow up through pictures, losing our loved ones and missing birthdays and funerals can take a toll on us mentally and emotionally, but again it’s the choices I’ve made that has caused me to be in these situations and I don’t want this for my life anymore so change to me isn’t just another choice it’s and obligation.
I know that in order for me to obtain a different and better life I have to be a different and better man, I cannot continue to do the same things I’ve always done and expect to see success, it just isn’t possible. What I need as I work toward making the changes necessary for me to be better are genuine people in my support network who are just as serious about making the change to be better as I am. I will need encouragement and maybe a “pat on the back” every now and then just to let me know that my efforts are seen, in my opinion, I believe we all could use that from time to time.
I will continue to serve God, He is my biggest support, apart from Him nothing is possible, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. I whole heartedly believe that.
As for what I can give back to society and those who support me the list could go on and on for a while, a few things to help you get an understanding of what I mean though is this: I’m an honest person, you can always expect me to tell you the truth. I won’t lead you astray. I’m highly spiritual and focused on walking in rightouesness so my energy is almost always good and my attitude is positive. I will be a person in this world that you can count on to keep you motivated and headed in the right direction.
As a justice impacted person I’ve used my time to become more educated and am working to earn my certification in welding with a program called Unicor here in El Reno Federal Correctional Institution. I’ve spent a lot of my time reading and taking courses offered by Mr. Santos, and have become truly inspired by him and his team. It gives me hope, hope for humanity, hope for people that come from a background like mine full of gang affiliations, drugs and guns, to becoming educated and successful in life no matter the odds. Because people still believe in the greater good.
The journey to success requires discipline, and to know that someone else has been where I am and became successful motivates me to continue to practice this discipline. I know that putting in the work is mandatory in order to get the things you want out of life, no one ever said that it would be easy, in fact Yeshua said that the path to life is narrow and the road is difficult and only a few ever find it.
My prayers for whoever may read this is that you can see that change is possible. No matter what you have been through or what walk of life you come from change is something that you can do, change for the better. We have to be the change that we want to see, that has always stuck with me. We have a purpose in this world. I am working on loving God and loving people, that all starts with forgiving myself and loving myself as well as forgiving others so that I’m able to love them too. We can make a difference first let’s set aside our differences.
Thank you for your time. God bless you and peace be with you. To my beautiful wife Dawn Taylor, I love you my Queen. Always and forever.
