The stage at Chautauqua, Ill. (Paul Katula / Voxitatis)
Thirteen juvenile offenders came before Maryland Appellate Judge Clayton Greene Jr on Nov 19, not to plead their case but to present a three- to five-minute essay each teenager had written about the themes in Edgar Albert Guest’s 1931 poem “Myself,” the Daily Record reports.
“Anyone who has a conscience will remember the hurtful things they have done to others,” the paper quoted one contestant as saying. “I think this is what the poem means by ‘I don’t want to stand with the setting sun, and hate myself for things I’ve done.’
“I think about the bad things I’ve done before I go to sleep at night and I have regrets,” he continued. “I want to be able to like myself, so in the future I will make different choices. I want to stand with the setting sun at the end of my life and respect myself for the things I’ve done.”
MyselfBy Edgar Albert GuestI have to live with myself, and so,
I want to be fit for myself to know;
I want to be able as days go by,
Always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don’t want to stand with the setting sun
And hate myself for the things I’ve done.
I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself as I come and go
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of man I really am;
I don’t want to dress myself up in sham.
I want to deserve all men’s respect;
But here in this struggle for fame and pelf,
I want to be able to like myself.
I don’t want to think as I come and go
That I’m for bluster and bluff and empty show.
I never can hide myself from me,
I see what others may never see,
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself — and so,
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free.
Judge Greene seemed impressed with the level of understanding the students, who were finalists from various juvenile detention facilities around the state, showed of the poem chosen for the 20th annual oratory competition.
“They thought a great deal about this poem and what it meant to them,” the Daily Record quoted him as saying. “I thought it was wonderful that these young folks had an opportunity to think about where they are in their lives, mistakes that they’ve made, ways in which they can overcome their mistakes … and where they’d like to be and what they’d like to do in the future.”
We reported last year about several programs designed to serve incarcerated or disadvantaged youth in our communities. The Storycatchers Theater, led by Meade Palidofsky in the Chicago area, takes narratives incarcerated kids express about their own life trajectories and turns them into one-act plays or musicals.
And here’s another such program, which uses the art of oratory to help juvenile offenders on the road to rehabilitation. Judge Greene said it takes preparation, discipline, and determination in order to succeed, but an opportunity to show what you’ve got is also part of the picture.
“Today was their opportunity to shine,” he said.