Bon Air Week 3

Tonight was the best night for me at Bon Air. The past two times, getting on the bus when I’m tired and have a lot of work on my plate, it has felt more like a chore than something I want to do. But, I’m so glad I went tonight.

We were down a bunch of people at first, including Professor Dolson, so I was a little worried for sure. But when we got there, they all seemed really excited and eager to start. I got to spend a lot of time with Brian, my partner, and I absolutely love talking to him. He loves to listen to me, and he loves telling me about himself, but there is enough give and take that it is never one-sided. He never treats a question I ask as dumb, or intrusive; he is just very willing to be there and to share his life with me. Also, he has such an amazing perspective on the world and we just really connect.

I have been extremely curious as to why he is in there because he has one of the best mentalities of anyone I know. And he had told me he was in there for 4 years, which seems pretty long (AKA he must have done something pretty bad if they want him in there until he’s 20). As we were talking, and after he mentioned he had been in another juvenile detention center before for 9 months, he said, “Wait I haven’t told you why I’m locked up, have I?” I kind of gulped because I really wanted to know but also knew I wasn’t allowed to ask. I told him he hadn’t, but he doesn’t have to at all. He said he didn’t want me to be uncomfortable, and it wasn’t that he felt uncomfortable sharing it. He finally decided to tell me, and I was honestly shocked.

He said this past March he had taken a gun and shot at a car full of people he “had beef with”. I asked if he was with people and he said, no. I asked why he did it and he told me, “It’s a long story,” and kind of put his face in his hands and tried to laugh it off. Then I asked “Do you regret it?” and he told me he regrets it every day. “God was with both me and them that day because no one got hurt and I didn’t hurt anyone.” Then he went on to talk about his plans for the future and how he can’t believe some people in here can only think about all of the illegal things they are going to do once they get out.

I told him how getting to know him these past three weeks has been awesome and how his mentality towards life and the future is really incredible. Then we talked about how we both write in journals every day and how we love to write about our thoughts.

Overall, great day.