Life Above Reproach

Ronnie Barahona

            I am writing this in the hopes of possibly helping someone not make the same mistakes I made.  I am serving a 29-year sentence for assault on a peace officer with a semi-automatic firearm.        

            My life was never supposed to end up with me in prison.  I was a son, brother, husband, father, homeowner, and business owner.  At 14 years old, I started deciding I didn’t like school and I wanted to go to work.  I had it all figured out by 16.  You see, I had been working here and there and at home doing construction and I liked it.  During those two years, I was able to convince my mom to let me quit school and go to work.  In a short time, I decided to move out with a couple of the guys I was working with and get a house.  All was going well.  I was a quick learner and moving up in the field quickly.  As I got older and my pride got bigger, I didn’t realize the harm I was doing to myself.  Let me explain.  At 20 years old, I had met a great girl.  We bought our first home and we made good money.  By 22, I was offered a management position in the company I was working for.  I excelled and even grew the company. 

            By the age of 26, I decided to quit my job to open my own business and work for myself.  After all, I had it all figured out.  There was nothing to stop me.  Now at this point I was not only responsible for myself, but I had a wife, a son, and a whole lot of responsibility. 

            In 2008, the nation had a recession which affected most people.  Families were out of work and many lost their homes.  At this point my wife was out of work and I was struggling to stay afloat.  As you can imagine things were tough.  I was raised in a good home.  My mom and dad always taught me to work hard, to work for my things, to be good, and help others.  I was raised with good morals and ethics. 

            Now this is where things got hard because of my upbringing to do wrong and steal or rob was very difficult.  My conscience would tell me no because it wasn’t in me.  But the thing I have not shared is that throughout my life, I had been slowly training myself and little by little allowing myself to go deeper into abuse and crime.  This all started at around 16.  First it was cigarettes, then drinking, and before I knew it, I was smoking weed.  The irony in this is that without realizing it, I was slowly conditioning myself to do harsher and worse things.  Cigarettes are legal and so is alcohol, but it doesn’t make it okay.  Weed back then wasn’t legal but it was natural right?  Still not good.  The weed that is out there now is not what it used to be.  Now it’s crossed and mixed and grown with who knows what.  In saying all this, what was happening was that little by little I was becoming more and more tolerant to change.  When I say change, I mean for the worse.  The weed, the tough times, and the desperation now led me into crystal.  It started as an occasional use and then led to a daily habit.  Soon, I found myself running around where I didn’t belong, doing drugs, and carrying a gun trying to make ends meet.  Little by little, I was rewinding my thoughts, morals, and emotions.  What was wrong before now wasn’t so wrong! 

            The ideologies of my youth and the teachings of my mom and dad were still there, but they were getting put farther and farther away by my needs and my drug use.  So, I decided to break into an ATM. After all, no people were involved so I wasn’t hurting anyone, right?  Wrong!  I was running around where I didn’t belong with a gun that I shouldn’t have had.  Things went bad, and fast!  During the ATM theft, security showed up and behind them the police.  To make a long story short, they chased me.  I ran and, in an attempt, to get away I shot into the ground to slow them down.  As I’m sure you can figure out, since I’m in prison, I didn’t get away. 

            The reason I’m sharing my story is because not everyone starts off bad or in a bad situation.  It only takes one bad decision and a split second to lose and ruin everything.  It has taken me years to start to figure this out and it is a long process.  It is only by the grace of God that no one was hurt or killed that night.  It has taken me years of reflection and classes to realize the devastation of emotional trauma I caused the officers, their families, my family community, first responders and the rest.  God has now shown me my path, and that is to serve Him and do my best to prevent someone else from making the same mistake. 

            There is a saying that a wise man learns from other people’s mistakes.  So always be a good listener.  You can learn from anyone, and you will never know it all.  Please take a long hard look at what’s going on inside and think twice.  There are always options! Be smart! There are many opportunities and the only thing stopping you, is you.

            May God bless you all your days.  Thank you.