Thought for the Week: Hope and Light
Given time, there is always hope...
Time passes so quickly it seems, even in prison. It seems like yesterday that I was in a darkness I had never experienced before. My thanks to my Quaker mentor still lingers in my mind. Over three years have passed and, by way of different prisons, support and kindness from so many, especially the Quakers, who give their time to run prison Meetings, I find myself back in society again.
That Quaker involvement needs to be recognised for what it is and celebrated. No judgment, no rejection, just empathy and kindness. I would like to spread that thanks to all Friends who give their time in places that are filled with the lost, the lonely, the stigmatised and abandoned. Bless you all and thank you.
I would like to also share a short story of hope. Due to my crimes, quite deservingly, my children were lost to me. That same Quaker lady prepared me for the fact it might take years to be reconciled, if ever. In 2012, I shared with the Friends Meeting at HMP Littlehey that my eldest daughter had reached out to try and trace me in the system. Sadly, no contact was forthcoming and I was left very low; but in time I came to realise that the time was not right for her, which is the most important thing of all. Time to think, time to heal, maybe time to move on and leave the past behind.
During the following years, though busy as a listener (a Samaritan in prison) and a carer for the older and less able prisoners, every day my mind would wander to how they were, what they were doing, where life had taken them. Around four months ago I left those walls and fences, strangely saddened to leave. I was soon caught up in new dilemmas: the struggle to find a home, get work and to rebuild a life as best I could. Again, the Quakers were there for me and I have started attending a small Meeting in Warwickshire, with the same compassionate, caring ‘Children of Light’ I knew in prison. Thank you for your acceptance and love. During Meeting last week I was able to share the news that my daughter had emailed my uncle out of the blue. It was a simple message: ‘Could you please tell my dad that I have had time to think and process things. Tell him I love him and forgive him.’
As I say, it was a simple message, and if there is nothing more to follow, it is enough and always will be. I sincerely do not mean these words to upset, but rather to give hope. To all those who have lost contact with loved ones, because of harsh words exchanged that seem impossible to take back, because of sins committed or simply a misunderstanding that is never resolved. Given time, there is always hope. There is always light.
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