Toastmasters on the Hill of the SD State Penitentiary today was a culmination of years of commitment and consistency of many people both in and outside of the DOC.
The men spoke of hope, intention, and hard work. They also spoke of Laura's classes, Leaders of Tomorrow, Alternatives to Violence, and Toastmasters. These are all programs that are not a requirement of incarceration, but an invitation for men to voluntarily look inward and explore self reflection, learning, healing, and growth. From the beginning, I have hoped that there could be multiple program opportunities to wrap around these men, and while it certainly isn't perfect, it is a reality, and for that, I am immensely grateful.
When it came to Table Topics, which asks participants to answer an impromptu question, one man brought forth the word of the day, which was integrity. Specially, integrity outside of the rooms where these programs exist, doing what is right when no one is looking. By memory he recited the following poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling:
IF
If you can keep your head when all about you,
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too.
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise.
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master,
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster,
And treat those two impostors just the same.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken,
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools.
If you can make one heap of all your winnings,
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss.
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew,
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you,
Except the will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much.
If you can fill the unforgiving minute,
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
CRM at Oregon State Penitentiary
3moCongratulations!fellas proud of yall