In a California prison, men come together in a circle to share the painful truths of their pasts. Each one carries scars from a childhood marked by abuse, beatings, neglect, and constant criticism.
In these moments of honesty, the depth of their trauma becomes clear. One man bravely speaks about his mother’s love involved being beaten with a bullwhip as a child. He opens up about his experience of being a child, naked and beaten, as generational trauma passed down from the horrors of slavery.
This is the hidden reality most don’t want to see.
The children who grow up surrounded by trauma repeat the patterns they’ve inherited. They enter adulthood with broken parts of themselves that they don’t know how to repair.
This destruction doesn’t just happen to those in prison. It is ingrained in our society and across generations.
I raise my kids peacefully because I refuse to be a part of this cycle.
I want my children to grow up in a world where violence doesn’t define discipline, where love isn’t mixed with pain, and where empathy replaces fear. We all carry baggage from the past, whether we recognize it or not. The beauty of healing is not just in fixing ourselves but in knowing that our pain has made us stronger, more aware, and more capable of creating change.
Someone who has experienced trauma also has gifts to offer all of us - in their depth, their knowledge of our universal vulnerability, and their experience of the power of compassion.
—Sharon Salzberg
Raising my kids peacefully isn’t just a personal decision.
It’s my commitment to breaking the cycle that keeps many trapped in addiction, mental health, and constant suffering. To ensure that the next generation doesn’t have to suffer as many have in the past. No one should have to carry the weight of their past into their future.
We owe it to our children to show them a different way, where love and respect triumph over violence.
- Anthony
I Dodged The Circle
I’ve been very open about my struggles in school; from elementary through high school, I had a difficult time, marked with suspensions, alcohol, drugs, fights, skipped days, and more…
There is one test I scored high on, but it wasn’t one from school; it was the ACE or “Adverse Childhood Experiences.” The ACE score is a count of different types of abuse, neglect, and other traumatic experiences that happened during childhood, which indicates the % of risk or likelihood that you will display negative behaviors or suffer from different issues (Addiction, Violence, Cancer) in life.
The higher the score, the higher your risk.
The test ranges from 1-10
I have an 8…
When I saw the video from the Compassion Prison Project, I felt a strange connection because I saw myself in the stories of those men.
Part of the reason I parent the way I do is that I have lived through the trials that broke many. During those trials, I learned the importance of parents, the value of being present in their child’s life. I also believe there is an element where I never wanted my children to face the things I faced, causing me to lose the innocence of my child too soon.
There is never an excuse to continue passing along your generational trauma; use what happened to you as a child as fuel to not repeat the cycle.
Sometimes you have to be the parent you needed, and not the one you had.
- Zac