Redemption
I met a convicted felon who was on his way to work as seen here to the right. He was nice young man who had made a bad decision early in his life. He sold drugs (aka recreational pharmaceuticals) resulting in him spending three years of his life in the Madison, FL prison.
I have met multiple felons in my travels through the district; it seems a conviction (regardless of the time spent in prison) is a life sentence. I have not completed a formal study, but for most felons, one time in prison is more than enough to drive them from crime. However, making a living by being on the straight and narrow is hard.
Arguably, felons did not learn good life skills prior to entering prison (or they would have mostly likely not committed a crime) and did not receive any life skills while in prison that would help them make a decent income so they can avoid a life of crime. As a result, it is very hard to find work on which they can live without subsistence from others. When they do find work, it is typically mind numbing and minimum wage. I can see how some fall back into the trap to become repeat offenders. A mind (and a life) is indeed a terrible thing to waste.
I believe the gentleman I met on my walk is sincere about staying free of crime and I hope he can. Something told me he had a lot of people praying for him, me included.
Caring
I had a very long conversation with a man who had his own business. As I walked away from his house to cross a small field, he followed me. As he followed me, he explained that he was going to pick up a piece of trash he saw at the far end of the field. I told him that I would pick up the piece of trash since it laid in my way. What made this occurrence so satisfying is that this man cared about the appearance of his neighborhood and he was doing something about it.
Since I have started my walks, one thing that has been quite common is the abundance of trash in the common areas in the less affluent neighborhoods, as seen in these photos.
I just do not understand why people litter. The only thing I can think of is that they have no respect for other people and other people’s property, which leads them to indiscriminately debase our planet we share together. I believe there are people in these neighborhoods who care and would like to see a clean neighborhood, but they may hate picking up after others, may be too tired after a long day to go down to the corner to clean up someone else's mess, etc. I do not blame them; cleaning up after someone else is not solving the problem. Solving the problem begins with early childhood development and teaching right from wrong, etc., but if the parents are not there or do not know right from wrong themselves, where do we start as a society? Not an easy question to answer, to what seems to be so minor at first blush.Challenging
Another man I met had very good thoughts and challenging questions. He worked in the precinct, but lived in the ‘Northside’ section of Jacksonville, which essentially comprises the majority of the CD-3 in Duval County. I suspect he may live in Precinct 07P where I previously visited or somewhere nearby.
His views were both conservative and liberal. He felt we needed stiffer prison sentences, which I find interesting/amusing/sad/frustrating after my discussion with the felon just described above, yet he was for a nationalized healthcare. He believed parents needed to take more responsibility in raising their children, yet he felt we could do more as society to help out the impoverished.
I agree with him about parents taking a greater role in their children’s lives, but what happens when the parents are not there due to a broken family, parents working two jobs, etc.? Who takes care of raising these children? While he might be from the community, I felt he was out of touch with the more challenging areas of the district.
I recently learned from attending a monthly meeting of the Jacksonville Alliance of Black School Educators, an affiliate of the National Alliance of Black, that 40% of all children in Jacksonville are born to single mothers. This statistic is alarming because of the secondary and tertiary effects that it portends. By lowering that number, I am sure there would be a less of a need for more prisons 15 plus years from now.
Resourcefulness
I met a retired gentleman who was in the process of repairing his tire which had a screw embedded in the tread. I mentioned I normally pay $20 to have it fixed at the tire store. He informed that he was retired and could not afford a $20 fee. However, he did have enough to purchase a repair kit for one-fourth that amount, which would allow him multiple repairs. After watching him repair the tire (as seen in this photo)
I was embolden that I could do the same, which I figure would save me time in addition to the money. If I had not interrupted him with our conversation, I am sure he could have done the repair in under five minutes, which is far less than it would take me to drive to the tire store a mile or two from home. I suspect he is not alone in the district in being resourceful since the district has some of the highest poverty rates in the state of Florida and the nation.
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