Jesse A. Schroeder

It is really hard to write to someone in jail, and it's really hard to read the letters that they write back. In general, our society doesn't write letters anymore. It's funny to read what someone has written about current issues two weeks later. There is a personal feel in the handwriting, the paper, the lead or the ink from the pencil or pen. Somehow, an intimate part of the person is transferred to the paper, not just through the words but through the medium itself. 

I have to be very intentional about writing back to these two guys. Sometimes I carry the letters with me around for weeks before I write them back. I think about what I could or should say. For example, this week I have travelled to Virginia to celebrate Christmas with in-laws. I've been able to visit with my two sisters who are in Columbus from out of town. I have eaten so much good food, given and received presents, laughed so hard that I cried, and been able to return every night to sleep in my own bed with my wife. These are all privileges that these men do not have right now. 

For one reason or another, their life is incredibly restricted, limited, plain. They are in jail because of their actions, and I'm not arguing that they should not be there (although I believe my old friend is innocent). It's not the "system" that I'm writing about; I'm more reflecting on the cold hard facts of people living in jail. My two friends look forward to the letters that we send back and forth. They talk about the books they are reading. These are the highlights of life for them right now. I have a hard time deciding whether or not to mention that I saw a new movie in the theaters last week. Would that be interesting to them? Or just make them sad? 

I love these two guys. I wish I could snap my fingers and change their situation. However, I also want them to be changed through the natural course by which we are all changed: daily life, slowly forming us, for better or for worse. The time in jail is important. The time served is long for a reason. The solitude and simplicity reminds a person of what life is all about. I believe that God redeems all of our lives, every experience, and uses it to shape us forward into who we are now and who we will be. I believe in the principle of constant becoming - we are always becoming who we will be, and we carry with us all of the experiences of our past. 

I pray for my two friends, and for the other people who are in jail, that they may find peace and a new life when they leave.