You’re absolutely right about this. As I commented on another Britney post, I used to have some substance abuse problems and hit a pretty low point at one time in my life. As drug addicts usually do, I went to jail. Everyone in jail tries to pick up a “hustle,” and mine was writing letters, since I was more literate than 99.9% of my fellow inmates (eh, probably 100% but let’s not discount the possibility of some idiot savant hiding out in isolation).

Anyway, I cannot tell you how many times the women in jail asked me to help them write letters to the judge so they could try and get their kids back, or at least see them. It was by far the most common request. These were crack whores, streetwalkers, homeless women, women on the very fringes of society. Yet they all wanted a chance to even just see their kids – maybe they knew they weren’t ready for custody, but by god they would have jumped through flaming hoops for a chance to take them to the park, with or without a social worker. These women were humble about it. They begged and pleaded in their letters to the judge. They loved their kids. They had regrets, and secretly cried about it at night in their bunks. I’m sure there’s hundreds of them sitting in jail right now, watching tv coverage of Britney’s seeming lack of concern and thinking, “If only I had that chance she does, the opportunity to do the right thing by my kids.”