This week I have been thinking about the terrible circumstances that people face. In particular, I have been thinking about the traumatic past experienced by many of the offenders I have worked with.
Their stories are the inspiration for this poem:
I know you think you know me.
I’ve listened to your views.
I wonder if your mind would change if you walked a mile in my shoes?
You say that I should have known better.
That I deserve my blues.
I wonder if your mind would change if you walked a mile in my shoes?
I have had many hardships, in trials I’ve paid my dues.
But how would you ever know this without walking in my shoes?
I am not dismissing my wrongdoing, or asking my behaviors you excuse.
I am just asking for compassion, for pain has filled these shoes.
I wonder what you would be like if you had worn my shoes?
What terrible choices you might have made, with all the paths to choose?
So please delay your judgement, and listen for the clues.
There is much I keep hidden in the soles of these old shoes.
For Jesus,
Rob