No Matter How Bad It All Is—You Can Be Somebody

By | |

somebody2

I’ve had the good fortune to have been around many people who have been in jail. Yes, you read correctly, I didn’t say misfortune, I said good fortune! You might think that it would be bad to know lots of folks who walked the halls of jail or prison but I say its good fortune because I’ve seen the real reasons many people ended up in jail. Also, I feel I have a good handle on what keeps many behind bars and what keeps many high risk people, out of the hoosegow as well. Thus, yeah, good fortune.

It’s not so much that I was a cop for most of my adult life that I know these things. No, being a cop helped me to understand one part of the puzzle but so many cops just scoop em up and lock em and go to the next call. Few have time to reflect about deep reasons because they’re too busy surviving and keeping one step above the bad guys to make sure they stay healthy and uninjured.

I started seeing different dynamics when I started teaching in college. I had heart to heart talks with many students who came from bad neighborhoods where murder was commonplace, general crime even more commonplace, where hope was just about dead, and addiction was rampant. What was telling to me was that some of these students were ones who committed crimes and were involved in drugs and addictions. And now, they were trying to better themselves. Many were a rare breed in the sense that they did not want to be a victim of life any longer, they did not want to be a loser anymore, they did not want to go to jail anymore; they wanted to be SOMEBODY.

somebody

In today’s day of political correctness, some may ask what does SOMEBODY really mean. Like, isn’t everyone a somebody? The kind of people I’m talking about have been on the tough end of life and certainly the wrong side of the tracks throughout most of their lives. They’ve felt the lack of dignity of being herded like cattle in jail. They’ve felt the pain of constantly having no money. They’ve felt the void of having no one to mimic other than criminals, cons and liars. The darkness of having no hope and the very real fact of having a poor future. They’ve seen so many people succumb to generations of nothingness that they felt like they were nothing much more than flesh with needs. And here is why everyone should be concerned about this topic; many of these people will kill someone in a heartbeat because they feel like nothing inside other than a piece of flesh that needs to fill immediate gratifications.

Some of these people who felt like nothing but a pound of flesh have been fortunate to have been given a spark from someone that showed them that there was something different out in life and something possibly different for them. Some were shown that they could be somebody, somebody good, somebody with dignity, not just somebody siting in a hopeless jail cell or a dingy porch with no hope all day long. One of these men told me that when he was in a large jail facility awaiting trial, a morning-shift jailer would put a motivational quote on a whiteboard every morning that basically said; every day was a new day and they could start making their lives completely different from where it was at now. Other quotes explained that it was up to them to change to be something different and good; that morning.

That lowly jailer changed that man’s life. Those morning quotes sparked a flame of hope and a basic direction to follow. That inmate built on that basic direction and learned more ways in which he could be different; all from a spark from one individual! He went on to go to college and to be a great student and also a great person. He feels like someone now. He feels like he has hope and that he can do positive things in life.

I’ve talked to many people like the man I describe. Many have been given a spark of hope by someone. Sadly, some fail to be somebody. They try, but the wrong kind of peer pressure, which is a strong downfall for many, or the pain of getting up early in the morning, day in and day out, or the very real issue of having no lasting encouragement in their lives steers them into traps. Traps like sitting by the TV all day, perhaps downing a bottle of cheap booze or worse, heroin, crack-cocaine or the cool drug of the day. Some fall victim to the over dependence on public assistance where the ease of just surviving is an easy option. I had a student ready to graduate tell me, “Mr. Kovacs, my mother was on welfare, I was on welfare and now my kids are getting to the age of being on welfare. I’m getting off now and I’m going to use my degree and what I learned to have my dignity. And I want my kids to be somebody too.”

I have been so impressed with so many of these people who have overcome or are in the process of overcoming that I feel it a privilege to be in their company. What I have seen is that crime, hopelessness and being lost in life is not a color or a nationality “thing”. It is a human “thing” and for those who have never been given the tools to know their true value, their true potential and how to proceed in a productive way, it is an almost insurmountable condition in life.

But I have seen time and time again that with mentorship from a leader, teacher, cop, jailer, reverend, mom or dad that anyone can be somebody no matter where they’re at in their life. No one can do it for them, but many can light the very real and very powerful spark in them . . . to be somebody.

Steve Kovacs
Follow Steve
Latest posts by Steve Kovacs (see all)
Tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
Steve Kovacs

About Steve Kovacs

Steve's the bestselling author of 'Protect Your Kids! The Simple Keys to Children's Safety and Survival'. He's written many articles on a wide variety of topics and has three published books. Steve's a three-time survivor of violence in his youth, a former police supervisor and a graduate of The Police Executive Leadership College (PELC) and was also an award winning part-time college Criminal Justice instructor. For several years, Steve did written and radio political and current event commentary and was the former host of the long running 'The Kovacs Perspective' Internet radio and TV talk show. Steve presently owns a small businesses in Ohio--The Mayfield Academy of Self-Defense.

2 Responses to No Matter How Bad It All Is—You Can Be Somebody

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Recent Articles Posted

    • The Teacher from the Past—A True Story 
      My business partner texted me one afternoon while he was doing some paperwork at our business, The Mayfield Academy of Self-Defense. Dan wrote, “A little old lady stopped in at the school and said she knew you.” I texted back asking if she had left her name. “Mrs. Gronick.”  “Mrs. Gronick, ...
    • How To Survive and Safely Enjoy Hiking in the Woods
      Every year people disappear in the woods without much of a trace. Most get lost or sustain an immobilizing injury. Many of these people are either not found in time to survive their injuries or in some cases, they’re simply never found, even after extensive searches.  Of course, in certain areas, ...
    • Winter in America—Thin Blue Line and Do Something
      Winter in America is sometimes unbearable but fortunately, most of us will hunker down in the warmth, comfort, and safety of our homes. But not everyone. Especially not the people experiencing the nightmares I’ll mention here. In the United States, about 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys ...
    • The Simple Best Thing You Can Do To Not Become A Victim
      The mother of a murdered girl said, “It’s easy for people to say she should have slept with pepper spray under her pillows or taken other security precautions, but people don’t do those things unless they’ve been victims.”    It's a fact that people don’t take regular security precautions unless they’re reminded ...
    • The Streets are filled with Vipers
      In Bob Dylan’s song, ‘Don’t Fall Apart on me Tonight’ he sings a line that explains a major reason why crime is rampant in the U.S. “The streets are filled with vipers who’ve lost all ray of hope.” Bingo! The genius got it right . . .  almost. He wrote that verse ...
    • Women Taking Charge: A Guide to Violent Attack Survival—Part 2—Weapons
      I just talked to a personal security expert who I respect more than just about any other expert including the loads of experts who have sprouted up on-line. I’ve known this expert for decades and he talks reality. He’s traveled the globe doing security and bodyguard work and has done ...
    • Bones Heal, Pain is Temporary and Chicks Dig Scars—Dealing with Fear
      Years after famous motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel retired he had a business disagreement with someone in Geauga County, Ohio. Geauga County is home to several small police departments and my friend worked for one of them. One afternoon he told me that he had to make an official phone call ...
    • Feet Don’t Fail Me Now and How Not To Get Shot
      Even though violent crime and specifically, shootings are on the rise the odds are good that you’ll never be shot at. But if you could learn simple methods to handle shootings, just in case, in about five minutes, wouldn’t you take the time? Continue reading for that five-minute training that ...
    • What’s In a Name? (5 to Survive) Your Survival, That’s What
      For years, I’ve written articles and done countless seminars on how not to become victims of crime. Throughout those years, I’ve also listened to many others talking on the same topic and one thing that always bothered me was the two words that they almost always said but hardly ever ...
    • Are You a Coward?
      A famous Danish theologian, philosopher, poet and religious author, Soren Kierkegaard once wrote, “Once you label me, you negate me.” Negate means to nullify or make ineffective. In his quote, he’s saying that once you or I are labeled as anything—stupid, brute, irresponsible, brave or a coward, that’s what people ...