Service as Redemption: Showing Up When It Matters Most by Mark Edgington

I didn’t grow up with a deep understanding of service. I used to think giving meant handing over a check or offering advice. But after prison, when I had almost nothing, I learned the truth: the most meaningful service often comes from giving your time, your energy, your presence…especially when there’s no credit involved.

Finding ways to serve, no matter how small, gave me something I hadn’t felt in a long time: a sense that I was useful again.

When you’ve done damage, there’s an ache to be of use. You don’t get to undo what’s been done, but you do get to choose how you live with it. And for me, the least I can do is prove to myself that the person who was involved in a crime at 17…that person has grown, changed, and become someone different.

Showing Up When It Matters

There are people who’ve given me chances I didn’t deserve. And there are people I’ve disappointed, no matter how hard I tried not to. I carry both of those truths. They keep me grounded.

When I show up to help someone, I’m not doing it to prove a point. I’m doing it because I know what it feels like to be overlooked. To be written off. To be told (explicitly or otherwise) that you no longer matter.

So I show up. Whether that’s helping a neighbor, speaking honestly to someone going through it, or writing these words. I do it not because I’ve “made it,” but because I remember when I hadn’t.

If I can spend the rest of my life doing more good than harm, being useful where I can, and showing up when it matters, I’ll consider that a life worth living.

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Mark Edgington

This article also appears on https://medium.com/@edgington.teams