Letter from the Editor

Chris Wilson grew up in one of the most violent neighborhoods in Washington D.C. in the 1980s. He lived eight blocks from the East Capitol Library, and because he loved to read, he would walk through one of the most notoriously violent housing projects in the area once a week in order to bring home new books to read.

Reading was his escape. At night, he would wrap up in a sheet on the floor of his bedroom and be transported to China, India, or Africa through books. He would say to himself, “The world is so big. It’s full of ideas and people. I can go anywhere. I can do anything. I can be anyone I want.”

But that’s not what happened. At the age of seventeen, Chris killed a man in a confrontation and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Chris’s family gave up on him. His mother said, “You got life. What’s the point” And she quit taking his calls. Chris could have allowed himself to be swallowed up in the prison culture. Instead, he started reading. He read everything he could get his hands on. He read about entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban and about historical figures like Frederick Douglass, Leonardo da Vinci, and Napoleon. He read self-help books like How to Talk to Anyone.

When the other prisoners made fun of him for reading, Chris said, “I’m improving myself, inside and out. I’m improving my body and my mind. You should, too. Just because you’re in here doesn’t mean you can’t do great things.” Other prisoners joined Chris in his quest for self-improvement, and together they started a reading club, Book Crushers.

Reading books motivated Chris to live a life that had impact; he chose to live a positive experience instead of a negative one. He earned his G.E.D., expanded the prison library by hundreds of books, learned to speak five languages fluently, developed a master plan for his life, and helped others do the same

I tell you Chris’s story for a reason. We are now a few months into the new year, and it’s apparent that things aren’t going to get back to what many consider to be normal. But what is normal? We really don’t have a way to actually measure what a normal life looks like. When I think of normal, I think about my own past experiences and routines; when I put myself in someone else’s shoes, I quickly realize that their experiences are much different than mine. I have learned that there is so much in life that I can’t control. The only thing that I can control is what I actually experience. So maybe, like Chris, we need to quit hoping for “normal” and start looking at what we want to experience from the events in which we find ourselves.

I think it’s important to understand that an experience is different than an event. We don’t necessarily control all the events that take place in our lives, but we can always choose what experience we want from an event. Let me give you a simple example. On a clear July day in southern Utah, two people are standing outside in the sun. Person A says, “I want to be anywhere but standing in the sunshine.” Person B says, “I love the sunshine because I need more vitamin D.” The hot day is the event over which neither person has control. Their reactions to the event are the completely different experiences they create from it.

As a whole, the pandemic event has altered our way of life—at least it has for me. We interact with each other differently, we shop differently, our children go to school differently, and our routines are different. If COVID-19 is the event, what has been your experience with it? Have you felt upset, sad, or angry? Have you been sick or known someone who has been sick? Have you lost a loved one or felt disconnected from loved ones? Have you spent positive time with your family and improved your relationships? Have you focused more time on becoming healthy? Have you used your down time to improve in some area of your life? Ultimately, each one of use chooses the way we experience the event of the pandemic.

Choosing an experience doesn’t mean that everything has to feel good and make us happy. Sometimes feeling sad or angry is exactly what’s needed. The real power is knowing that you and I choose the way we experience events, and because of that, we can change those experiences whenever we want.

My hope is that the articles in this issue will inspire you to have new experiences as you confront the events in your life.

Brendan Dalley, Editor