"We care about prison education, very simply, because prisoners get out." – Christopher Zoukis

This morning I listened to a speaker talk about decisions and options. It was a passing comment, but it jumped out to me because at not exactly the opposite of my beliefs, it's close. I consider options to be expansive, a magic trick for getting unstuck. My friend was suggesting not all options act this way. A choice between bad and worse is limiting.
The speaker was Jeremy Bouman, one of my early morning pickup basketball buddies. He runs an organization called RISE (seeusrise.org) with the lofty mission of breaking generational cycles of incarceration. It's a big problem with no simple solutions. Jeremy has built an amazing organization, and it's making a measurable difference. Recidivisim, when a convicted criminal reoffends, is down in our state, due in part to the work RISE is doing. Jeremy got me thinking about my ideas on options. I love it when that happens.
I'll think about this more. What I think Jeremy was trying to tell us in general, and me in particular, is that our ability to come up with options is limited by life experiences. It's hard, if not impossible, to consider options beyond what you've been exposed to. Especially when you grow up in survival mode. The work RISE does is exposing the incarcerated, their families, and employers in our community to new experiences. This creates new options for people in survival mode, exposing them to options beyond "bad" and "worse." From what I saw this morning, this exposure is life-changing for a lot of people. It's good stuff.
If you're in Nebraska, where our prison system is expensive and overcrowded, learn more about RISE at seeusrise.org. Jeremy and his team are making a difference in the community. Five stars. Highly recommended.
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