He hit me in the eye, and I dropped. The whole pod responded. Some were laughing and cheering. Some were yelling for me to fight back. I told myself to get up. Despite being surrounded by a group of gang members ready to pounce, I did.

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I got lucky that day. Somehow, I didn’t end up in the emergency room. The gang leader called it off after a few moments. I ended up with a black eye, but otherwise I was fine. If I had any choice in the matter, I would have moved out of the way at least.

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Sometimes the fight comes to us. Don’t worry, though, being knocked down doesn’t mean that you lost a fight. Losing a fight doesn’t mean you didn’t still win something, either. To fight is to struggle. To struggle is to be alive. To be alive is to rejoice that you overcame your struggles by enduring.

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That is what prison is, every day. Guys are just looking for ways to endure, win or lose. It is no walk in the park.

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Something happens when I sit down and do math with people here, though. For just a little while, we aren’t behind barbed wire fences and gun towers. We don’t have prisoner numbers. Our criminal reputations don’t matter. We are just two citizens of the world.

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I’ve been working with a certain guy for a few months now. He lives in the building next to me. I can’t just walk over there and help him. That is a security risk. I can’t volunteer to help him in his GED prep class, the same class that everyone needs a tutor in, either. That is a security risk too.

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But I can meet him in the chaplain’s office. That isn’t a security risk. Funny, he seems to have his math book with him whenever we meet, too. It must be a higher power. Anyone trained in probability is welcome to let me know if they find bias.

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Our first meeting was a blast. He had a bunch of questions. What is algebra used for? What is next? What is calculus really? It was great to share what I’ve learned through my mentors at the PMP!

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A particular question he had that day was about systems of equations and their geometric representations. Why do we care about intersecting lines? What is this stuff used for? I had to hold my breath until he was done speaking. I was so excited to talk about one of my favorite paradoxes, Achilles and the Tortoise!

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Photo by Engin Akyurt on Unsplash.

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