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ACTIVE LISTENING MAIN STORY

PATTERNS CAN BE BROKEN

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

This expression was coined by a 19th-century poet. It’s used these days to say that we can identify something unknown by its patterns of behavior. In 2015, a variation of this expression was used in defense of Russian air strikes in Syria. After being accused of targeting the Free Syrian Army, the foreign minister insisted that they were targeting ISIS. He said, “If it looks like a terrorist, if it acts like a terrorist, if it walks like a terrorist, if it fights like a terrorist, it’s a terrorist, right?” Humans naturally apply the duck test to make quick decisions, but appearances can be deceiving. We can correctly identify someone’s habits or patterns, but this doesn’t tell the whole story. And it doesn’t account for our ability to change.

When Shon Hopwood appeared in front of the judge for robbing banks, the judge thought he was a good-fornothing punk. He was caught red handed and was certainly guilty of the crime, but he didn’t fit the pattern of a criminal. He was friendly and popular in school. He was also from a good family in a small town. With a population of just 2,500, Davis, Nebraska was a low-crime community; not the type of place with a lot of bad influences. Shon didn’t have any of the telltale signs of a kid going down the wrong path. He now looks back and describes it as a good childhood with a loving family.

One night, Shon went out drinking with his buddies and an old friend asked him a preposterous question: What do you think about robbing a bank? He said that most people would have walked away, but he enthusiastically said yes. To this day, he doesn’t know why. “I don’t have a great excuse as to why I did these things. And everybody always wants that. It closes the circle.” After agreeing to the crazy plan, he did have second thoughts, but it didn’t stop him from following through.

When Shon entered the bank, he was sweating, and his heart was racing. He carried a toolbox and was disguised as a handyman. He dropped the toolbox, covered his face with a mask and pulled out a gun. He yelled, “Everyone get down! This is a robbery!” After locking the employees and customers in a vault and grabbing $50,000, Shon and his friend made their getaway.

They immediately felt guilty for what they’d done. Shon’s friend even wanted to send the money back. Despite their regrets, this wasn’t a one-off job. Shon recruited more friends and hit four more banks. He was on a roll until the FBI caught up with him in a hotel.

When Shon appeared in court, he told the judge he was going to turn over a new leaf. The judge didn’t put much stock in his words. He looked at his pattern of violent crime and said, “I guess we’ll see in about 13 years.”

The judge was right to be skeptical. Seventy-six percent of criminals in the US do go back to a life of crime after being released. Shon wouldn’t be one of them.

On his first day in prison he saw a violent assault in the prison yard. Instead of surrounding himself with more violence, he decided to work in the prison law library.

Despite not having any official training, he became the goto guy for legal advice. He helped inmates find ways to get their sentences reduced. His biggest success was helping another prisoner appeal to the state supreme court. One morning that prisoner came running at him screaming. Shon prepared himself to be attacked, but the other prisoner was merely overjoyed that the supreme court had accepted his petition. The supreme court only accepts one out of 10,000 petitions, so this was a major victory.

Shon continued to beat the odds when he was released from prison. He got a full scholarship to law school and became a lawyer. He is now a professor of law at Georgetown, one of the highest ranked law schools in the country.

Shon had proved the judge wrong. He was able to change. He now works to help other criminals prove to the world that their past doesn’t equal their future.

Patterns can be broken. Transformation is possible. People can change.

Shon’s story inspired Tarra Simmons. Unlike Shon, she did fit the pattern of someone who was at risk of going down the wrong path. The deck was stacked against her from day one. She grew up far from the idyllic small town middle class childhood that Shon had. And she also lacked the support of a stable family. Both of her parents were drug addicts and drug dealers.

At the age of 13, Tarra was living on the street. For a short time, she was forced into prostitution until she was able to escape. Tarra was surrounded by drugs, gangs, and abuse as a child. With the environment she was raised in, it’s no wonder she got in trouble with the law. She shoplifted, got into fights, and got involved with gangs.

At the age of 15, she had a son. She wanted a better life for him, so she went back to school and finished high school. She wanted to prove to her son that they could work hard and succeed. She got a scholarship to college, and after six years, she graduated with a degree in nursing. At the age of 22, she had a job and bought a house. By all appearances, she had beat the odds. She’d overcome the obstacles of her abuse-filled childhood and was successful.

Everything was smooth sailing, until one day she went out on a date and was raped. She was traumatized and angry. She told a friend who had gang connections what happened to her. Her friend told her to call the man, and they would get revenge for her. She was angry and wanted the man to suffer, so she called him up, and invited him over. Tarra’s friends beat the man with baseball bats. She was arrested and spent eight months in jail.

When she got out, she couldn’t find work as a nurse because of her criminal past.

She turned to drugs to deal with the stress and then turned to crime. To support her children and her drug habit, she and her boyfriend began selling drugs.

Repeating the patterns of her childhood, she was now raising her children in an environment of drugs and crime.

She was arrested again and spent two and a half years in prison. Tarra now says this time in prison was the best thing that ever happened to her. She finally got therapy for her past trauma and learned how to free herself from negative mental patterns that she had learned as a child.

When she got out of prison, she knew she wanted to change her life. It was at that time that someone gave her a book written by Shon Hopwood. She was transfixed.

Shon was someone who didn’t let his past define his future. If he could do it, she could, too. She connected with him on Facebook and started to follow in his footsteps.

Tarra went to law school and graduated with honors. She had worked hard and done everything right to turn her life around, but the state of Washington disagreed. Because of her past history, she was at risk for returning to a life of crime. They barred her from taking the test to become a lawyer.

With Shon’s help, she appealed the decision to the Washington State Supreme Court. Shon argued that identifying someone solely based on their history is a selffulfilling prophecy. If you do not give people the opportunity to change, then they cannot change. The Washington State Supreme Court usually takes months to make a decision. In this case, they decided in one day. They said, “one’s past does not dictate one’s future.” Tarra was not at risk for falling back into her old patterns.

She would get a second chance. Tarra said, “I’m finally free. I finally made it out.” She passed the bar and now works for a non-profit helping other ex-criminals reenter society.