Justin Hackman: You mention you went to prison when you were 19.  Take me through the process of getting put away and what your life became after being released.

 

Buddy Harrison: Well, I was young and did dumb things. I got caught up in an armed robbery.  Look, a lot of people ask, “well why’d you go to prison?”  The correct response there is: I didn’t go to prison because of that charge alone, I went because I was leading a bad life. I got convicted and got 19 years.  But you think that was the first armed robbery or bad thing I did?  Of course not; it caught up with me and I got exactly what I deserved. I didn’t go to prison because of the charge, I went because I was living and operating poorly.  But let me tell you something, Justin, I wouldn’t trade it.  It was the best thing that’s happened to me. I never finished 8th grade. I went to prison at 19, and inside, I got my GED, I did college courses in there, I grew up in there.  By the time I got out, my old friends were either in prison or dead. Prison saved my life. I was in my apartment shortly after getting released and I heard gunfire, as I seemed to always do in that neighborhood.  But for some reason, at that moment, I dropped to my knees and I begged the lord to come into my life.  I remember that day so clearly.  I walked outside, in a bad neighborhood, where bad things happen, and nothing is supposedly pretty, but I looked around and suddenly everything was beautiful.  From that moment, when I wake up, I am happy; I’m happy everyday.  And it’s not because such great material things are happening, it’s because of my mentality and outlook on life.  In 2015, I had a heart attack. I have prostate cancer right now as I speak to you. But you know what?  It doesn’t bother me at all.  You accept a higher power and suddenly things change. Things look different. The cancer, the heart attack, it was a blessing. I asked the lord, “I don’t care what it takes--I don’t care if it’s prison, illness, a death, whatever it takes, let it be.  I’ll deal with it.”  Perhaps these so called misfortunes have kept me closer to the lord.  So if that’s what it took, so be it.  My main goal is I want to wind up there in heaven one day.  If it took cancer down here to end up up there, then hey, I made out.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want a death in the family, I don’t want an illness of course, but if that’s what it took for me to become closer to the lord with an eternal life in heaven, then I’ll take that. 

 

JH: Best of luck to you, Buddy, and let’s chat again soon.

 

BH: Absolutely, thanks so much.

 

Justin’s addendum to the reader: it wasn’t simply the words that Buddy spoke, but the way in which he spoke them that made for quite an inspiring interview.  The man believes every word he speaks, and that level of honesty can be felt.  Religious loyalties aside, whatever you or I might believe, I can always get behind genuine honesty and humility.  It was a pleasure to talk to Buddy who seems to be an individual that has become a better person as his years progress, which unfortunately seems too often a rarity in the world.