When Jay was 22 he called himself a loner and says he chose friends poorly. One night, after drinking with that group, someone suggested breaking into the chemistry building on his college campus. The others dismissed it, but Jay made a plan and did it. He escaped detection that night but was arrested later and booked into the county detention center at about 1 a.m.
Sitting alone in the cell, reality hit. “I pretty much thought that my life as I knew it was going to be over, and I had decided that the world would be better off without me in it,” he said. He began to make a plan to end his life and started to cry.
Just as he was about to act, a voice came from a vent in the top left corner of the cell. An inmate in the next cell called out, “Hey, is this your first time?” Jay answered yes. The man asked, “Can I pray for you?” Jay had grown up religious but had drifted away; in that moment he accepted.
Jay doesn’t remember the exact words of the prayer, only that they landed. Instead of wanting to die, he felt hope. He calls that brief, unexpected exchange a pivotal moment that changed his life’s course.
Nearly ten years later, Jay says he has a good job, a girlfriend who loves him, and a life he values — all because another inmate had the courage to speak and be kind. He wishes he could find that man again to shake his hand, hug him and tell him what that small gesture meant.
My Unsung Hero is also a podcast — new episodes are released every Tuesday. To share your unsung hero story with the Hidden Brain team, record a voice memo and send it to [email protected].