“I got out of prison the last time, and my life was not making sense anymore. I didn’t know who I was, and that scared the hell out of me. Since I was a kid, I wanted everyone to be scared of me, but I was scared of myself. I realized that if you want to be a true gangster, you have to fight yourself, learn who you are, learn to love yourself. I didn’t love myself because I didn’t even know who I was. And you can’t care for other people until you love yourself. It is the love of self that leads to a love and concern for others. And when I learned to love myself, I realized I didn’t want to hurt anybody no more. ”
--David Carter, friend of CCH.

When David was a kid growing up on Chicago's South Side, he got involved in violence, drugs, and crime, and spent almost 20 years in prison. David is now 52 and has been out of prison for almost 15 years. Though he has a hard time finding stable employment and constantly struggles with homelessness, he has made himself into a model citizen. If you asked David how he changed his life, he always talks eloquently about the importance of learning to love himself, and how a love of self leads to the love others.

The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. Pundits, policy makers, and politicians spend significant amounts of time and money trying to figure out how to prevent crime and reduce the number of people in prisons. They could learn a lot by listening to somewhat like David.