Wednesday, January 15, 2020

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by ArnoldKunst
15 January
LIFE IN PRISON, PART TWO
I remember a conversation I overheard during orientation before I began my teaching job at California State Prison Solano in Vacaville.It was in the reception area; two buses had just arrived and two guys who got off those buses clearly knew each other. Here’s what I heard: “Hay, Bill, I haven’t seen you since Folsom. What are you in for?” “No, Fred, it was San Quinten. Parole violation; 18 months. What about you?” “I got a new beef. 18months too.” “Oh, ok.” What struck me was now casual all that sounded. Like, if you’re, say, 37 and you’ve got an 18-month hitch you’re going to spend your 38th birthday in prison. Trust me on this: there’ll be no cake on your 38th, no candles, no family, no loved ones, no gifts, no one telling you how glad they are that you’re on this planet. None of that. That birthday is gong to be just another tasteless day watching your fingernails grow - just like twenty bazillion other days before that day, and after. Unquestioned waste stretching out, extending far beyond the furthest frontier. And because it’s so unquestioned, the end of those 18 months isn’t going to make any appreciable difference. That is, each guy will get out inside 18 months, but each will be back inside prison before the end of a baseball season. Beating the odds takes more than the passage of those 18months, trust me on that.

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