Attitude and Aspiration

Halim Flowers: An Example of Excellence

Halim Flowers is now one of our nation's most celebrated artists, writers, and activists. But that isn't how he started his life.

Like many people who go through the criminal justice system, Halim began his life in struggle. Street gangs influenced his adolescent years. Before he turned 10, he walked across puddles of blood that oozed from a dead person. Neither gunshots nor seeing death fazed him. His father became addicted to crack cocaine.

Conditioned by his environment, Halim started selling crack at 12, adapting to life on the streets and housing projects of Washington, DC. Most children his age have positive role models and learn in school, preparing them to live as productive adults. Unlike other teenagers, Halim didn't grow up with the opportunities and privileges that so many people take for granted. His behavior mirrored what he saw, and by the time he turned 16, he had to start preparing for sentencing and prison.

Authorities charged him with gang-related crimes. After judicial proceedings concluded, Halim had to cope with the plight of two life sentences. What does it even mean to serve double life? Since a judge sentenced him to serve a term with letters rather than numbers, authorities sent Halim into high-security penitentiaries. He stepped inside the walls before being old enough to vote.

The Power of Self-Empowerment

While incarcerated, Halim made a commitment. Despite starting his sentence at 16, he had the wisdom to know that he didn't like his environment. People convicted of crimes surrounded him. Those people tried to influence his adjustment, giving him a message that permeates every jail and prison in America:

"The best way to serve time is to forget about the world outside, and to focus on time inside."

Despite the challenges of Halim's backstory, he had an attitude of self-empowerment. He didn't like the backstory of illiteracy, poverty, drug abuse, and a pipeline that would carry children from school playgrounds to the penitentiary. Rather than complain, he found a way to write a new chapter in his life story. He wanted to make a difference that would lead to a better community.

Halim coined a phrase: "Love is the antidote."

As he moved through his sentence, he developed his mind and understanding of the world by reading. Through reading, he trained himself to become a better communicator. He learned to put words into sentences, and sentences into paragraphs. Over time, he authored several books.

Knowing the importance of using many mediums to communicate, he also taught himself how to paint. With words and pictures, Halim worked to help others see the pain that comes when society shackles a boy's soul in chains.

Aspiration Leads to Action

Mechanisms didn't exist to change his life sentence. Yet Halim's attitude gave him the fuel to keep working toward his aspirations. In time, he wanted to make a difference. Through his work, he could contribute to ending intergenerational cycles of poverty.

Like Mahatma Gandhi, Halim Flowers aspired to live as the change that he wanted to see. He gives us an example of what it means to live with the audacity of hope, believing that with the right attitude, he could be more than the label of "super predator" that society had bestowed upon him when he was only a boy.

He made a 100% commitment to that end. Leaders inspired him. But inspiration without actions is fantasy. Halim gives us an example of excellence. If a person has the right attitude, and if a person aspires toward the best outcome, perseverance and commitment can bend the arc toward justice.

By the time that Halim served 22 years, the law changed. Those changes allowed a federal judge to take another look at injustice. The judge agreed that, based on Halim's extraordinary and compelling adjustment, a double-life sentence no longer served the interests of justice. In 2019, after 22 years in prison, Halim returned to court. During the second hearing, he walked out of the courtroom to begin his life as a successful artist, writer, and activist.

The Johari Window

We tend to view our lives from the limited perspective of how we see ourselves. Yet others may see us differently from the way that we see ourselves. I learned about the concept of "The Johari Window" by reading influential books.

With the Johari Window, people learn to understand their relationship with themselves and others. Psychologists use the concept in self-help groups. Anyone preparing for sentencing may want to consider lessons from the Johari Window teachings.

Start by thinking of a quadrant with two columns and two rows:

• Open Area (Known to Self, Known to Others): This is that part of our conscious self that we're aware of, and that is known to others. In preparing for sentencing, we can be certain that prosecutors and the judge are assessing us.
• Blind Area (Unknown to Self, Known to Others): This represents what others perceive in us but that we do not think about when thinking of ourselves. Although we may see ourselves as being good people, when authorities charge us with crimes, we should consider the likelihood that they're looking at us as being bad people.
• Façade (Known to Self, Not Known to Others): Despite what we know about ourselves, others do not see it. For example, we may think of ourselves as being remorseful. Yet prosecutors or the judge may not see it.
• Unknown (Unknown to Self, Not Known to Others): This includes all that neither others know about us, nor that we know about ourselves. Who knows what we will be in the days, months, years, or decades ahead?

Using this framework before sentencing can influence a person's attitude and aspirations. Instead of living with delusions, we can prepare for reality. Those who love us may know the "real" us, but we would be naïve to believe that our adversaries will see us in the same way.

If we want to prepare for the best possible outcome at sentencing, we need to go into the proceeding with the right attitude, and with the right aspiration. We need to think about the obstacles we face today, and the strategies we can create to prepare for a better tomorrow.