Look Inward

One of the things that really bothered me about the reentry programs I engaged when I came home from prison was what seemed to me an excessive amount of attention reentry workers placed on the attitudes of convicted persons.  I sensed that those reentry workers exerted a lot of time and energy insulating themselves against the inevitable difficulties and disappointments program participants would experience in their pursuit of employment and career opportunities.  Reentry workers know well that most convicted persons ultimately fail the reentry challenge.  So, it seems, even reentry workers often develop negative expectations of those who turn to them for help.  This theme has remained a dominant feature of my reentry experience--both as a support seeker and support provider.  

While many reentry workers seem to work hardest at insulating themselves against any fallout from the inevitable frustrations of their clients--and any suggestion of their own ineffectiveness, incompetence, or essential indifference--their behavior finds mitigation in the reality that many convicted persons do need a lot of personal work.  We do need to get serious about the mountainous obstacles that lie before us.  We do need to understand that most of the folks we will encounter in our quest for employment and career opportunities will seize the least justification to deny us any consideration whatsoever.  We do need to understand that we cannot  allow ourselves to become emotionally undone by a ubiquitous societal predisposition to marginalize or demonize us.

That said, we also have to maintain our inner resistance to both marginalization and demonization.  I will pick up on that next time.  Stay positive!