Dont hold me back now !

I've asked I've prayed I've begged to not be looked at as a number, a monster, a convict ,an outcast but in this case my mistakes define my ambition people constantly create judgments based on my unfinished tattoos or the mistakes of my past. Will wealth will status or tattoo less skin make me any better of a person will my criminal past make a crime filled future. I've always asked myself these same questions because I knew nothing else but the words thrown at me from others. But then there's those few the few that saw hope where I saw hopelessness and thus the seeds of true hope of seeing past someone's past and being able to see a bright future for someone who's life expectancy was 18 years of age where planted then I too was able to see hope within myself for a brighter future sometimes all it takes is this for a lot of us lost souls just hope just faith just seeing past the tattoos and the numbers we are human we bleed we cry we feel. Why does a 12 year old young man have to believe he is nothing more than worthless because his circumstances demanded such. I was never taught to Express my emotions I never was handed a conversation when i was in pain i was handed beatings and bongs so why, why cant we be that light and plant those seeds of encouragement instead of trying to segregate and punish it's time we lift each other up and put all Byes aside we need each other and sometimes all we need is a smile to show someone there worth everything they have ever wanted and more that's it just smile not a number not a judgment just a simple gesture that makes a monster into a person