All change starts with a choice. That’s the easy part; “I choose to change.” Step two is much tougher. Change… to what?

On August 20^th, 1994, my choice was to become a prisoner. For life. As a choice, it would in every way narrate my change from prison escape artist, bank robber and murderer to student, teacher, husband, father, and community leader. More than thirty years later, in September 2024 – just 8 months after being granted full parole in Canada — I appeared before an audience of more than 800 corrections and justice system officials representing 70-plus nations in Singapore. Their question for me was singular and simple:    

How?

How does a man spend 30 years in a cage, surrounded by loathing, death, oppression and then — only 8 months later — travel 8 thousand miles to deliver a message of hope and resilience to the very system that had imprisoned him? So, I told them the truth:

I didn’t. We did.

What 30 years in the 21st century time-machine taught me is that humans have only one strength: Community. It’s our superpower. It was not stoic philosophy that put us on the moon. Only community could do that. For more than 30 years I conveyed community to people who for a myriad or reasons, just never really got it. That I was once amongst them gave me tremendous freeness of speech. It is now my privilege to support you, your team, or organization in building your own sense of community. It’s the reason I’m here.

Iridian,
November, 2024