Decide to Change Palacios

Decide To Change!

A Marine captain in charge of the Pearl Harbor Brig in Hawaii in 1965 used to have the new arrivals stand at attention in front of a large chalk board while military transfers occurred.

Written clearly on that large green chalk board were these words: You never know at what point in life a person may decide to change.

More profound than those words on the board for new prisoners to reflect upon, was the fact that the captain kept these words there to remind him to treat each person with respect every day.

As we fast forward to 2018, we come back to Gallup and upon a trio of graduates from the RMCHCS Substance Abuse Treatment Center. These three individuals made the decision to change their lives. Lawrence Besselente, Norman Chee, and Kristy Lunasee participated in the Healing Hands Studio where they honed their skills in ceramics and woodworking. Each has won an award in this year’s Inter-Tribal Ceremonial Art Competition. From the 1,191 judged entries in this year’s event, they succeeded.

Lawrence won first place in the non-traditional pottery category for his ‘Cornmeal Bowl.’ Norman won second place for ceremonial items in the class of tribal arts for his ‘Serenity Box,’ and Christy won second place for her ‘Seed Pot’ in the non-traditional pottery category.

But could they have accomplished this without deciding to change their lives? It is a brave step to take. It is never easy to change. It is a statement of courage that earns our respect.

We have hope that they will continue to follow this path of change and continue to succeed. For what is the expectation of life except that things will change as we go along?

We just have to make the decision to change for the better as we go. We all need to remember, “Our time to change can be now.”

—Palacios