“If you don’t give me my money by the end of tonight, I’m gonna beat your a@#,” was the warning from a guy who was owed $3.00.
I was annoyed by the angry man’s threat. I didn’t understand, as I probably would’ve when I was an ignorant boy, how people could become violent over something so small, and was likely accumulated illegally. I was not the least surprised. In my 19 years of incarceration, stagnating individuals making bad, senseless decisions is steadily prevalent in prison.
It was the typical prison scene in a BET movie. A little White guy, Hank, who had recently moved into the unit, owed a big Black guy named Bop $3.00. Hank had borrowed a few dollars worth of commissary items. When it was time to pay, Hank didn’t have the money. He was scared and was clueless as to how he was going to come up with Bop’s money. Out of concern for his wellbeing, I went to my bunk area to ponder if I should or should not interfere. One of prison’s golden rule is to mind your own business — that is, see and don’t see. After a few minutes which seemed like an hour, I made up my mind. I wasn’t going to sit back and watch a fellow human being get their brains beat out of their head, so I reached inside my locker and pulled out two soups, one bag of chips, and a mackerel pouch ($3).
I walked up to Bop. “Here you go,” I said.
“What’s that for?” Bop asked.
“Hank owes you $3, right?” I said, insisting that he takes the food.
“Oh yeah, yeah,” Bop said then took the food.
Thereafter, I went to Hank and said, “That’s done, man, you’re good.”
He gave me a shocking look of relief. “What are you talking about?” Hank asked.
“I paid Bop for you.”
“Hey man, I’ll pay you back when I go to the store.”
Instead of counting his blessings, he was about to make the same decision that almost cost him his life.
“You don’t have to pay me back, you’re good,” I said, walking off and shaking my head. The debt was cleared.
Have you ever owed money?! Has money ever been owed to you?! If granted the chance, would you pay off someone else’s debt?! Has anyone ever helped you cover a debt?!
Answers to these questions vary, depending on an individual’s level of consciousness and life experiences. However, people owing other people is a very common thing, especially in low-income and/or prison communities due to the high volume of poverty. It’s important to know how a person accumulates debt — whether it’s because of drug addiction, financial adversity, food insecurity, credit cards, etc. But it’s also a blessing — according to scripture — to help a person in need. And in all normality, a person strung out on drugs shouldn’t have their brains beaten out of their head because of a poor financial decision — at least that’s my opinion.
The moral of the story is this: A human being has no jurisdiction over another human being’s life; therefore, if you know someone who may be subjected to harm because of a debt, please extend your hand the best way you know how.