Everyone has a story. Not all of them are pretty. For eight years now I have been a volunteer speaker in detention centers, and for the last twelve months I’ve been doing the same in Texas prisons.

There’s the 13 year old girl I met who ran away from her abusive home. She ended up in Houston, dancing as a stripper and turning tricks in the shitty motel across the street from the club. She was addicted to heroin. The Texas DPS raided the club which is how she landed in detention. What hope did she have?

There’s the woman in prison who told me she didn’t think she could ever forgive her stepfather for raping her. She suffered the abuse from the time she was six until she was 13.

I will never forget these young women who openly and willingly volunteered their stories with me and the rest of the inmates. It took courage.

The point of today’s blog is this: be kind to everyone. We don’t know what they might be living with. You have an opportunity to make a difference in their lives by your kindness…