As I continue working as a prison chaplain, I’ve found not only is it a deeply fulfilling part of my vocation, it is also allowing me to re-examine my own spirituality and add depth and subtlety to my understandings of the cosmos.  I teach weekly using Rev. Dangler’s Dedicant Path Through the Wheel of the Year as a base, and recently we were discussing the virtue of perseverance.  Beyond definitions, I like to ask them to think of a person (real or fictional, historical or modern, famous or not) who they believe embodies each virtue.  For perseverance, it was thinking of who has the drive to continue towards their goals, even when the whole world seems to be conspiring against it.  They acknowledged each other as fully embodying perseverance.  

It was a wonderful and heavy discussion.  The inmates specifically called out being queer, an addict, a felon, as a person who has to ignore what people say and think about you, and live authentically, and the only thing that can truly drive you is your own desire to live the best life you can. Those are all identifiers that will follow a person for their whole life, and conjure in the mind of those who hear those words an immediate image of the type of person someone must be.  Queer.  Addict.  Felon.  

For those in the queer community, they know what community care is, and they know it is the only way forward.  They know they will be judged based on who they love and how they express their gender.  They know they face threat of violence and prejudice every day.  And yet, they continue to live authentically.  In a place where human touch between people isn’t allowed, they continue to embrace themselves in love.  Despite the fear.  Despite the very real consequences to their safety and opportunities.   

For addicts, they brought up that someone who is currently struggling with addiction is already one of the most persistent people on the planet, who will do anything for their next fix.  They spent time encouraging each other that they have those skills of perseverance already, and can turn them towards recovery.  They know if they can work half as hard towards their recovery as they worked as an addict that they’re golden.  They also know how incredibly hard that actually is.  

For felons, which they all are, they know that after release they’re going to have to work exponentially harder to do nearly everything: from finding housing, to finding work, to finding friends.  They will be denied stability, and they know that the recidivism rates are high, and higher still for women in poverty.  One of the women spoke up then with a statement that will remain emblazoned in my mind: “Perseverance is making sure you’re a success story, not a statistic.” They know those statistics.  They know the odds.  And yet still, they persevere.  

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Rev. Jan Avende is an Initiate and Consecrated Priest of Ár nDraíocht Féin currently serving as the Vice Archdruid. Locally, they serve the Central Ohio pagan community out of Three Cranes Grove, ADF and work as a contracted chaplain at the Ohio Reformatory for Women. They are a talented Bard, Liturgist, and Spiritworker, with a passion for mentoring others, building resources for pagan families, and making the work that we do as pagans accessible for all. You can see more of their writing at hellenicdruid.com and support their work at patreon.com/skylark913.