Please also Read Her Request for Support

As someone who has been in prison for almost 16 years, I can attest to the fact that one’s heart tends to harden.

I live with and have met so many people in pain and agony. I have listened to so many stories of despair and grief that my mind and heart have been tempted to shut down and close the door on all of these people and their problems. Can I learn to live without caring for them? Or do I care not to live?

Each of us is burdened with our own turmoil and struggle. My emotions get taxed trying to carry someone else's burdens because my own are already so heavy.

I've made a decision not to turn my heart off. Even though tormented screams may awaken me in the middle of the night, the enormity of someone else's pain makes the interruption of my sleep seem minute. If I ignore someone else’s anguish, it takes a toll on my conscience. I hold on to empathy. I can't remain a passive observer when someone only needs an ear. When I show compassion, their problems become less overwhelming. As a long-timer, I’m familiar with the hassles of someone who has just come ‘over the wall’ from the reception center for the first time. I know they constantly have to adjust to the arbitrary changes and absurdities that we have become so accustomed to. I still can remember feeling so alone and helpless.

We ‘look down’ upon the ‘new girls’ as women who are unworthy of our time - an inconvenience. Yet, as I look back, I realize that we were all new at one time. Do we offer them some simple comforts - a bar of soap, shampoo, or coffee? Or, perhaps a pen to write a letter home? No, more often we shun the ‘new girls’ because they are just another ‘problem’ on top of all the others with which we have to deal.

So, when I am awakened by the sound of someone's tears, I won't lie in my bed and ignore it. I won't tell myself it's their pain and agony because it belongs to me just as well. As a human being, I cannot let her suffer alone, in silence. How many times have I wept alone in the corner of my cell, when words of comfort and concern could have made a world of difference?

I won’t let another inmate starve on her helplessness and frustration without feeding her some strength and encouragement. I won't let another soul manage to become cold because of my neglect.

Maybe I've become too philosophical over the years, but I now know that compassion is what my world needs instead of only seeing the world in black and white tones?

Taking the time to offer some words of comfort should not be taken as an interruption in our lives, but as a chance to offer lessons and enlightenment. Yet, we regularly turn down these opportunities because, in our world, there’s no room for anything more than we already know.

Shame on us!