I say "made real" because these folks have trouble believing that anything will ever change for them. They have trouble believing that HR managers won't find other ways, apart from the dreaded "have you ever been convicted?" box on application forms, to deny them a chance for gainful employment.
Many of them repeated what they have been hearing all their lives: "Once a criminal, always a criminal." As a Christian I had to hang my head in shame, because there is no doubt that American Christianity has contributed mightily to this idea of the "reprobate" who cannot be redeemed.
It's not much different when it comes to our country's wanton use of unmanned drones to kill people by remote control. Only a nation that has itself died spiritually can inflict death and suffering on such a scale and with absolutely no compunction.
How do we keep hope alive in the face of all this? We begin with silence and with contrition.
Yours on the side of life,
Peter Laarman
Executive Director