In America, we hold some ideas as sacred without looking at them too carefully. One of those ideas is that the way to fix pain is to add more pain.
So when a hurting person violates our rules and hurts another person, we answer that pain by hurting them even more.
As a nation, this has gotten us into a situation where we lock away an unbelievable number of people in jails and prisons, where their pain usually grows deeper and more powerful.
Like most of our collective problems, the weight of this bad system falls heavily on the kids in my neighborhood. I've spent too much time picking youth up from jail or talking with them through bulletproof barriers.
At Presencia, we believe that if you want to live in a better world, you have to start making it.
So instead of adding pain to pain when the children in our community violate rules, we are working to root them in relationships, foster a sense of responsibility, and develop a process for reconciliation.
Instead of isolating and wounding our students to enforce rules, we're developing practices that bring healing and hope.
Have a great weekend,
Ian North
Co-founder, Development Director