“After more than two decades in prison, I know that kindness is not a value that’s encouraged. It’s often seen as weakness.” But, when a cat wandered into the prison yard, normally gruff men turned into pussy cats, and a lesson was seared into the heart of Troy Chapman. “There’s a lot of talk about what’s wrong with prisons in America … but I think what we really need is a chance to practice kindness ourselves. Not receive it, but give it.” (Read or listen to the essay at NPR)
This is a great idea, animal therapy has been shown to be highly effective with all sorts of social, mental and learning disorders; why not implement it in prisons?
I think it was a news story I read about some researchers who, when looking at Romanian orphans, posited that it wasn’t so much the fact that there was no one loving THEM, but that there was no one for the children themselves to love. It might be more important that we are touching someone to show the love, than for others to touch and show us love…
Isn’t that fascinating?