Second Chances

    This interview with Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Records) takes place in Ironwood State prison in California wit inmates. It is a clarifying and inspiring documment to appreciate that although you slip up in life you have the right to stand up and get ahead.

    "A young man in upstate New York drinks too much and gets a little rowdy, picks a fight, smashes up the bar, and is arrested. When he gets into trouble again a short time later, the judge sends him to jail for a week. After his release, he gets fired and cannot find a new job because he has a record. The local newspaper carries a story about his misconduct. The merchants on Main Street refuse to sell him anything on credit. The young women gossip about him and refuse to date him. One day he has had enough. He packs his meager belongings, leaves without a good-bye, and moves to a small town in Oregon. Here, he gains a new start. Nobody knows about his rowdy past, and he has learned his lesson. He drinks less, avoids fights, works in a lumberyard, and soon marries a nice local woman, has three kids, and lives happily ever after. Cue the choir of angels singing in the background." (The American Scholar-Second Chances, Social Forgiveness, and the Internet)

By Amitai Etzioni

MARCH 1, 2009

rowdy adj	(people: disorderly)	alborotado/a adj
		pendenciero/a adj
	The crowd got rowdy when the show didn't start on time.
	El público se volvió alborotado cuando la función no empezó a tiempo.