A Reflection from Behind the Barbed Wire

Letter to the Dealer

Pieces of mail numbering hundreds of thousands have reached our office over the years. The majority of our mail consists of study guide requests and completed lessons for our Student Correspondence Course. Often, these requests and courses include notes of thanks for our program materials along with personal reflections; proof that our program leaves an impact on hearts. We couldn’t help but share these powerful words coming from an inmate in Newton, North Carolina.

Dear Dealer

Dear Dealer,

I wonder, if you knew the destruction of what you do,
Would you stop?
Would you turn your life around,
Knowing you were saving lives and families by doing so?

If you could follow all the little bags you exchange for cash
On their full journey,
Would it make you feel remorse?

If you could see the child in fear, hiding in her older sibling’s bedroom
While their parents fight?

If you could see the children hungry,
Going to school with no lunch,
Making their own way there,
Because their parents had handed all their cash to you?

If you could see the children that cry themselves to sleep at night,
Because their parents have split up and they don’t see their dad
That they once were so close to anymore?

If you could see the wife that cries,
Because the man she loves with all her heart
Has lost his way and she can’t help him back?

If you could see the mother that gave life to
Such a perfect child,
Who raised and nurtured them to the best she could,
Whose heart now breaks as she has to watch that child,
Now grown,
On a destructive path she cannot protect them from
No matter how hard she tries?

If you could see the father, the protector of his family,
The man that is strong, that worked hard
To raise his family right and give them all they needed,
The man that promised his princess the day she was born
That he would never let any harm come her way
So long as he was still breathing…
If you could watch that strong, proud man cry uncontrollably,
Because his little princess,
Now grown into a beautiful woman
Has sold her body to a stranger for cash just to give to you?

If you could see the young man who once had a great job he was proud of,
But now lost because of the little bag he keeps buying from you,
If you could see him selling all his possessions one by one
He worked so hard to get,
If you could see him break into the elderly lady’s home while she sleeps at night
To steal whatever he can to give to you,
If you could see the fear that lady lives with for the rest of her life now?

If you could see all the depression,
All the pain,
All the heartache,
All the hopelessness,
All the fear,
All the people’s lives it destroys,

Dealer, would you stop?

Lord, Help us to reach those who need You the most with Your message of hope, love, and change.