"Treat a man as he is, he will remain so. Treat a man the way he can be and ought to be, and he will become as he can be and should be." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
One of the great discoveries I have in my years of working with and working for inmates is the experience of seeing a good number of them rise up to expectations and witnessing them slowly but definitely manifesting transformation in their behavior, performance and character simply because that is what I expected them to manifest.
No matter what past experiences they have gone through or what wrongs they have done, those things were not powerful enough to hold them back from living up to new expectations. I believe it is simply because they know I believe in their potential for goodness as well as capacity to achieve; and they too believed.
And when I think of those who truly lived up to expectations - those who were gone and others who were here with me - I can not help but smile and experience a warm joy in my heart.
