All points of this Newsletter help those of Us that are AICs (Adults in Custody) build the skills and needs to become Self-Advocates. The challenge is understanding whether you have put together a Plan or not, you still need to set a daily agenda to help you stay active throughout the day. No one, except yourself, can drive you to improve your circumstances unless you understand that Self-Advocation is your role inside the walls or fences to improve yourself. By education, recreation, and working with reliable, truthful and sincere other AIC’s and CO’s. Calvin Coolidge once said that the world is full of educated derelicts but Persistent is the value that leads to a positive outcome. While this is not exactly the text the point is still well made. PPT works to help those of us behind the Fence to stay resilient in the face of, sometimes unknown timelines and BOP agendas. When I first went down, the guilt, shame, anger and loss were overwhelming, so laying in the rack and crying over these things was my response to my current condition and stupidity for my actions. Through PPT, the stories, the Straight A guide, working on a blueprint and other recommendations as per this new letter. I read “The 7 Choices to Ignite Radically Inspired Life” ON Fire” by John O’Leary. A story of a young kid burned over 90 plus percent of his body, this book along with PPT’s emails finally got me to get my head up and not let this experience define me. “In our own woundedness, we can become sources of life for others” Henri, come to understand “I alone cannot change the world. But I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples” Mother Teresa. Simper Fidelis means “Always Faithful” Buddha means “awakened or I am awake. John O’Leary wrote: “Know the gift of your story. Know the power of your experiences. Embrace the beauty of your Scars. Be a light, the world is desperate for it.”
So to you behind bars that ready this. Those things that PPT sends us and their own travel set the stage for a greater you, don’t let the mistakes of the past define you. Use the Optimist creed: Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to critic others. Be too large for worry too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble. Rise up the best for you is yet to be written, write your story, we need to hear it.
Be Blessed,
Billy Marcum
