He ain't heavy, Mister!

I still remember seeing a drawing in a magazine when I was a little boy. I’m sure it was a reprint, but the message stuck with me. It was a drawing of a little boy carrying a still younger lad on his back. The caption was: He ain’t heavy, Mister, he’s my brother. 

That drawing and that phrase made history. Fr. Edward Flanagan of Boy’s Town spotted it in a magazine in 1941, and obtained permission to use it for promotional purposes. It also became a popular song. 

As I’m reviewing the astonishing year-end figures of HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS, that phrase comes to mind. 

We hear and read about prisoners fighting, killing each other, attacking each other, raping each other. I’m not making light of it, or denying that it happens. But there’s another very decent code that I have seen behind bars, actually reflected in this beautiful quote. 

I first discovered it in 2003 when my friend Maurice Carter experienced a severe Hepatitis C episode in prison. His bunkie, Jerry Talison, was finally able to find our telephone number. He called Marcia, who is a Registered Nurse, and together the two of them saved Maurice’s life. 

Some years later a group of prisoners in Jackson contacted me to ask if I could help one of their fellow inmates. Old Bill was 80 and dying, but had no friends or loved ones on the outside. He just didn’t want to die in prison. We arranged to have him released to a beautiful hospice facility, and his final weeks on earth were heavenly. 

Readers of this column will remember an item that I post every year from a prisoner who had been on death row in Texas, “What’s in the Brown Paper Bag?” A touching story. 

The theme I’m stressing here is prisoners caring for prisoners. And here’s why. 

HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS signed up more than 2,000 new clients in 2021. That’s more than 6% of the current Michigan prison population! It represents a 17% increase over last year! 

How does that happen? Simple. One person in prison discovers that HFP cares, and the word spreads. At least 5 times a day some incarcerated person will email us, not with a request for help, but with a message: I have a friend who needs help. 

Our pledge for the New Year comes from the book of Hebrews: “...remember those in prison as if you were together with them...” 

We’ll be there for them with a cup of cool water.

They ain’t heavy. They’re our brothers and sisters!

  

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Half-a-race!

The HFP Drag-Racing Fund-Raiser had the potential of being extremely successful, and could have raised several thousand dollars. Let's just say it was partly successful. For background purposes I'll explain that I was racing a 1963 supercharged Studebaker Lark that has a reputation of being one of the fastest stock Studebakers in drag racing today. The engine was built by one of the finest Studebaker engine mechanics in the country, and the car many times has achieved quarter-mile runs in less than 14 seconds! We promised to make at least ten passes in the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags at Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan, this past weekend, and we asked for pledges ONLY ON THOSE RUNS REACHED IN LESS THAN 14 SECONDS. On Friday, here's how we fared: Run #1 13.936 @ 101.24 mph Run #2 14.027 @ 101.30 mph Run #3 14.091 @ 100.88 mph Run #4 13.805 @ 102.84 mph Run #5 14.058 @ 101.26 mph By the 5th run we discovered that ...
Read more

Gregory John McCormick: 1964-2008

Itchy is dead. The lifeless body of this talented rock musician, whose band Shock Therapy was a popular group especially in Europe, was found in a field in Detroit last Wednesday, November 5. The Wayne County Coroner's office informed father Glenn McCormick that the body of his son Gregory, better known to all of us as Itchy, bore no signs of trauma. Glenn said that Itchy, who had been living at his father's dental lab in Detroit, had been drinking to excess for some time. While the toxicology report has not been released yet, the general consensus seems to be that he drank himself to death. Our agency, while still named INNOCENT, first got involved with Itchy in 2005. The Detroit native, who called Germany his home, got involved in some unfortunate activity that placed him in the Michigan State prison system on a charge of arson of a dwelling. It was really just a bonfire in an alley, but an alleged parole violation placed him in prison for 1-20 years. I personally sat w...
Read more

Three lives, connected by a divine thread

My kids say it should be a book! The Doug, Pat and Mark story is a doozie!   About 25 years ago, while fighting to free Maurice Carter from prison, I read a newspaper column written by Pat Shellenbarger of the Grand Rapids Press on the topic of eyewitness identification. I contacted Pat re that story. That led to a friendship between Doug and Pat that continues to this day.   In subsequent months, Pat would go on to assist me in an investigation into the Maurice Carter case that eventually led to solving the crime.  That particular episode became a chapter in my book about the Carter case, SWEET FREEDOM, published in 2006.   Fast forward to 2009, A New York businessman claims wrongful conviction, and while serving time in a Michigan prison is handed a copy of my book. Mark Hartman, who was also convicted in Berrien County, was amazed at the similarity of these two stories and tried to reach out to me. His letters bounced.   Persisting in his efforts to c...
Read more