“Yeah, well good luck with that,” I said as I stood over her and watched her sob with her head down on the table.
There wasn’t a person who was incarcerated who didn’t want to go home.
But go home to what? The life they decided on that got them here in the first place?
“Stop crying, wipe your face and quit your whining,” I said.
She proceeded to cry and slam her fist on the table. “It’s not fair!” she said.
“You either knock this off or I’m kicking your ass right out of here,” I said.
She thought about it for a moment. The other students waited quietly. They had never seen me talk so harshly and bluntly to a person before. I had told them all before, I was there to help but would not put up with any outbursts or blaming. They were here because THEY screwed up and it was time to step up to the plate and deal with it.
She kept her head down and continued to cry and protest.
I walked over to my purse, pulled out a whistle and stood behind her. I blew it as loud as I could. Everyone put their hands to their ears and winced. Her head shot up and she turned around and glared at me.
“What the…?”
Steve came around the corner and stood in the doorway. He looked at me. I smiled to let him know everything was OK. I knew he would give me an earful for doing it later. He put his hands on his hips, pointed his finger at me and smiled. He walked away without saying a word.
“Stop talking,” I said. I put the whistle back up to my lips. “Do I need to do that again?” I asked.
Everyone shouted “No!”
She remained sitting up and wiped her face. I held onto the whistle and looked down at her.
“What was one of the first things I told you when you arrived for this class?”
She thought for a moment.
“I’m waiting. I don’t have all night,” I said.
“You said a lot of things…”
“Do you not remember me telling you that I don’t want to hear any type of victim talk? Do you not recall that I said I would not tolerate any bad behavior and that all that was important was today? That the past is gone and what is done is done? Does any of that ring a bell?”
She nodded her head.
“But I’m just so home sick…”
I held up my hand. “Stop right there. I don’t care.”
“What? You don’t care?”
“Nope. Not in the least. You’re the one that decided to do drugs. You’re the one that made the decision to rob and steal. You’re the one that neglected your children and because of you, they’re in foster care and until you own up to the fact that YOU’RE the one that got yourself here, there’s nothing anyone can say or do to help you. And if that’s the case, once you get out, you’ll be right back.”
“But none of it was my fault!” she said and started crying again.
“Get out,” I said.
The room was as quiet as it had ever been.
Suddenly her tears stopped. She looked around. The other women stared at her.
“Your tears won’t work here,” Maggie said. I felt a slight smile cross my face.
“I have to leave?” she asked. Suddenly she was sweet as pie.
“Yep,” I said and motioned towards the door. “This isn’t the right program for you. This is only for women that want to be better people and that means taking responsibility for their actions. No blaming, no finger-pointing and no crying about things they can’t change.”
She stood up and wiped her face. “If I promise not to cry again, can I stay?”
“Nope. I’ve got limited time and resources and this is the 3rd time I’ve told you to knock it off. Three strikes and you’re out,” I said.
I watched her walk towards the door. When she got there, she turned around and glared at me. “You know what? You’re a real bitch!” she said.
Maggie started to stand up to confront her. I told her to sit down. She did so, reluctantly.
“I suppose all of this is my fault, right?” I asked her.
She started to say something but stopped as Maggie started to stand up again.
She stormed out of the room. After class, I wrote up my report about her and handed it to Steve. He read it.
“Some people just refuse to learn,” he said.
“Yes and thank God I’m not trying to save the world,” I said.
“Yeah, right Lewis. You keep telling yourself that,” he said and smiled.
Once she was gone, the class settled down and the fun returned.
Sometimes you have to make hard choices in life and one of the hardest is who to walk away from without looking back.
idisagreecompletely 