You can do things you never thought you could. There are no limitations in what you can do except the limitations of your own mind.” — d A r W i n p. k i n g s l e y When I have spoken to inmates, they all have stories and per- sons or events on which to blame their life errors. In lectures, I have often summed up their attitudes this way: “Ah, but for the grace of God, you would be where I am today. My mother was a prostitute, and my daddy an alcoholic. The neighbor boy hung heroin on me when I was 12.” Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. In other words, their situation is not their fault. Even when their stories are false or greatly exaggerated, it still is not their fault. They all have someone or something to blame. They would seek to gain understanding and even sympathy with their life stories. not that some of the stories are not touching, but my point is that the function of blame essentially removed their responsibility through rationalizations such as “What would you have done?”
