-Donald, San Quentin
“Change is the end result of all true learning.” Leo Buscaglia
I agree with this quote because it wasn’t until I truly learned, that I actually changed. I made a lot of choices over my lifetime, which I believed were choices, that were the same choices that others were making for me which were, for the most part, bad choices. They were choices that became a means of survival for me.
As I’ve gone through life and I sit with the consequences of the choices I’ve made and hearing the stories of others’ lives and experiences, I see that I’ve learned.
I had truly learned and have changed because there was a time when the only thing that mattered was my survival. What you were going through didn’t matter to me. How you felt was of no concern to me because all I knew was what I knew. I didn’t know about change.
“You’re no good. You’ll never be anything good. You’ll never amount to anything.”
That’s who I was and how I was going to be because that’s what I was told. That’s what I believed. That’s how I lived and so my choices were based on someone else’s lie that became my truth.
Today, I’ve changed because I’ve truly learned who I am. I’ve learned my value, my worth, and I’ve learned my connection to others through the stories they share.
Today, when I shed tears, they’re not about me, but for others and what they’re going through.