December 16, 2020 Ronald McKeithen walked out of prison after 37 years of incarceration. Watching this beautiful human experience freedom for the first time in his adult life has been nothing short of a miracle. Ron was sentenced to die in prison in 1984, when he was 22. 1/12

In the last 5 weeks he’s experienced so many firsts. His first suit. First Zoom. His first welcome home party that friends, including me, threw for him when he was still pinching himself to make sure freedom was real. At 58, Ron now lives in the very first room of his own. 2/12
I first met Ron in 2014 and was shocked to learn his life without parole sentence was for a single convenience store robbery. Ron was 21 at the time & had 3 prior property crimes on his record, 2 from a single incident. Alabama's habitual offender law mandated the sentence. 3/12
A dedicated public interest attorney, Carla Crowder with @AlaAppleseed argued that Ron's terminal sentence was cruel & unusual and a judge agreed. The victims in Ron's robbery supported his freedom and Jefferson County's DA, @VoteDannyCarr, did not object. 4/12
All these folks worked together to free Ron, but this is rare. Hundreds of men & women serving LWOP for robberies and burglaries have no way out. “I left too many people behind,” Ron said. “I’m not so special. There are other guys who would do just as well as me out here.” 5/12
Ron hit the ground running. He’s opened a bank account, learned to use a smart phone, got an ID, shopped for groceries & attended his first NFL game. He’s living in a transitional home with support from @OffenderAlumni. "Every day I'm getting a new blessing," he told me. 6/12
Ron is considering a job as a nursing assistant, wants to expand his greeting card business and he’s already mentoring at-risk young men, something he dreamed of doing if he ever got out of prison. In short, a wonderful citizen and community member that WE are lucky to know. 7/12
Every time I talk to Ron since he’s been out he’s bubbling with wonder. “I am happy helping people,” he said. “Everything feels exciting and beautiful. I don’t want to lose this childlike amazement of the world. But sometimes I ask myself, what did I do to deserve all this?” 8/12
Make no mistake, Ron is deserving. In prison he earned a GED, 2 trade school degrees & became a devoted student of meditation & art. He spent the last decade living in the honor dorm, tutoring others & working in the library. I wrote about him here: 9/12
https://t.co/tg67ELJpP1
When an officer called Ron’s name to leave, the entire cell block broke out in cheers and applause. The guards wished him luck and Ron walked out with a box of belongings, laughing in the rain as we snapped pictures. They took almost 40 years but they didn’t steal his joy. 10/12
I can’t overstate how knowing Ron has changed me. I now question everything I thought I knew about our system. He is living proof that many remarkable Americans are buried alive. He inspires me to work on their behalf. I am happy he’s home & I’m proud Ron is my friend. 11/12
To read more from Ron and to hear more about Appleseed’s ongoing fight for people trapped by death-in-prison sentences, visit their website and consider supporting their work. WELCOME HOME RON! 🙌🙏👊12/12 https://t.co/WGs06SdSd6
To read about Ron's case and my writing about his life, here is the link that works!
https://t.co/uTkpBtdopO

More from Life

TW: suicidal ideation.

At the darkest days of the abuse I was being subjected to I decided to attend a conference for women in Los Angeles. I convinced my mother in law to pay for it because I couldn’t afford it. @ChristineCaine was preaching. I was desperate...
1/


I wanted to die, I didn’t see a way out and I had tried everything. I imagined many ways to die daily. The most recurring one was throwing my car down a bridge I had to drive over every day. I never did it because my kids were in the car and I was afraid one of them would...

2/

survive or I’d kill someone on the way down.

Christine spoke about honoring your pastors even when they weren’t great, she spoke of us expecting too much of pastors and how wrong that was. She said God would use our testimony if we submitted to our pastors.

3/

She said “honor your pastors, God will honor you.” She said more about having disagreed with her pastors but she submitted and God honored her and now she’s blessed. How if they are faithfully serving God, we need to support them and not forfeit what God has for us.

4/

I felt my heart drop into my stomach. I got up and went to the bathroom because I couldn’t breath and I felt like I was going to faint if I didn’t scream. I now know I was having a panic attack. I sat on the toilet w/my head between my legs, breathed and wept..
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1/“What would need to be true for you to….X”

Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?

A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:


2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to

- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal

3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:

Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.

Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.

4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?

To get clarity.

You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.

It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.

5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”

Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.