U2 - Song For Someone

This is for Raymond. Most people have no idea how hard it is, buddy, but I've got your back.

For the rest of you...Ray is my friend from when I was working in the State Prison. I was teaching Adult Ed., and he was an inmate, and one of my teaching assistants. Staff and inmates are not supposed to be friends, but since when have I ever cared about rules? And he was a better guy than most of the people I worked with.

You hear all the time people passing judgement on these guys, writing them all off as just criminals. And how none of them ever really change--jailhouse conversions and all that. But Ray did change. Really changed. Got saved. Earned a high school diploma and an associate's degree. And finally, got out, went to work, got married, had a kid. But it hasn't been easy, and he's going through hard times again now. We talked about him staying up here with me for a while, but it's not in the cards. I'll be praying for you, though, and hoping that things are going to get better for you someday. You've been through enough, man. You guys think I've had a hard life...I'm not going to tell you about Ray's, but...Geez.

Yeah, they're criminals. Some of them are genuinely horrible people. Most of them deserve to be there. But remember, Jesus said, "Judge not, lest ye be judged with the same measure." And "I was sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not." I guarantee you this: some of these guys will be in heaven, and some of the people sitting in church pews will not.