The blessing lies outside your comfort zone
I thought I'd have to earn the prisoners' respect in class. Instead they gave it freely.
“The blessing is outside your comfort zone.” I recently heard this on a podcast about the spiritual practice of running. But this truth extends beyond the topic of physical exercise.
A month ago, I was escorted to a classroom in the men’s maximum-security prison 20 minutes from my home. I was there to teach a class to 14 inmates on the meaning and importance of empathy for healthy, human relationships. The class was part of a research program funded by New York University to offer support and resources to the incarcerated and hopefully reduce the rate of recidivism. Ten of us at my college have volunteered to develop and teach a liberal arts, literature-based curriculum as part of this program.
As I prepared for the class, I felt anxious about the teaching and about how I would be received. From the volunteer training, I expected to meet murderers and sex offenders as well as men serving unreasonable, unjust sentences for minor drug charges. I expected the men to come from lives and backgrounds vastly different than my own. I expected the majority of the inmates to be black and brown—because these are the people we incarcerate in America today. (I was right, there was only one white man in the class of 14.) I expected that I would have to win them over and earn their respect, in spite of what seemed like huge relationship obstacles.
