On a rainy day in November my husband Jerry and I were sitting in a coffee shop, meeting with Joe and Joyce, the Elders who run “Warriors Against Violence” - an organization that helps Aboriginal families understand and manage the anger that can lead to family violence. Mid conversation, a tall, vibrant young Aboriginal man strode up and greeted Jerry and Joe enthusiastically. “Hey – remember me? Good to see you guys! I’m just coming from work - on my way home to the wife and baby. Want to see a picture of him? He’s almost two already!”
I asked him where he worked, imagining him to be a former colleague of Jerry and Joe. He answered, “Got a great job – I used my 14 years ‘inside’ to train as a Health & Safety Officer on construction sites. It was hard. You really gotta want it. But that way when I got out I got a really good paying job right off the bat. My wife and I just bought a condo in Coquitlam.”
“Inside?” I was flabbergasted.
“You guys were really great – helped me a lot. Jerry - that house of yours – it was just like family. You know?” He went on to laugh with Joe about times they had shared. Then, “I’ll buy you guys a coffee next time I see you!” And he was gone.
I felt stunned, but immeasurably moved. It was nearly impossible to imagine that this responsible, appreciative young man, successful by any measure, had done a 14-year prison stretch for a very serious crime.
I turned to Jerry - “Who was that?” He smiled. “That’s Jamie. He spent quite a few months at “Circle of Eagles” (Jerry’s Aboriginal halfway house) after he got out of jail. He went to see Joe at “Warriors” too, for counselling.”
When Jamie’s cell door had finally opened, he was physically free. But he had arrived at “Circle of Eagles” and “Warriors Against Violence” still captive behind walls of distrust and anger.
Hesitantly, I asked Jerry what Jamie’s crime had been. He said he had never looked to find out. He and Joe had simply accepted the Jamie who stood before them, journeying with him day by day, meeting him where he was.
In the coffee shop that day I saw living proof of how the Creator’s unconditional love and acceptance, offered through the lives of people like Joe and Jerry (and by us in our own lives), has the power to break down walls and free people from their bondage. In the young man who breezed so exuberantly through the coffee shop that day, I saw a former prisoner who had been truly released - in every sense of the word.
