You can love them

Cheek to cheek.

As I was driving to Torres* after starting to mentor there, I prayed, “Lord, what am I doing?  I’m old, white, educated, privileged, affluent.  I have nothing in common with these men.”  As soon as I thought the prayer, I thought “You can love them.”  I was struck.  How simple.  How profound.

 Since then, I’ve hugged every man in white** like he’s my grandson.  Sometimes, one of the men in white will say, “I haven’t been hugged like that for sooo long.”  Others will lift me off the ground and others won’t turn loose.  Many hugs are cheek to cheek.  

 *The Torres Unit is a Texas state prison located near Hondo, Texas.

**In Texas prisons, all inmates wear white