My penpal and I don’t have much in common. He has been imprisoned for many years for a long-ago crime, spending most of his day in a cell with a concrete floor. He’s young, Mexican, loves watching basketball, and has little to occupy his time. I am old enough to be his mother, white, work full time, and have an abundance of opportunities for entertainment–but watching sports isn’t one of them. I have never been confined.
Add to these great divisions the fact that we don’t share photos of each other. Therefore, letter writing was a challenge for me, as I usually envision the recipient when I write, picturing them smiling at the good news or sighing at the frustrations, just as my words intended to convey….
New differences between us are revealed with each letter; we may never agree on some. These differences are softened by the things we have in common: the taste of oranges in winter, the pleasure of a good run outside, travel—and emoticons. And the emoticons help heal our differences by filling our minds’ eye with the emotions of the other.
-From a “Braver/Wiser” reflection written by a pen pal in the CLF Worthy Now Prison Ministry
When have you found surprising things in common with someone else?