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AriseandShine.org

April 2005

Being Lied To

4/16/2005

 
Several days ago I received a letter from a young man by the name of Jake*. He was boasting to me about his big collection of serial killer cards and his fascination with such individuals...
Jake said that he reads a lot of books and loves to watch movies about serial killers, and that he has amassed many facts about them from the Internet.

My heart was heavy as I read his letter. He's obviously deluded by the media's portrayals of those who commit these kinds of crimes.

I seldom get letters like Jake's. But on occasion people like him do write to ask questions or to express their fascination with this subject. Usually I never reply. With this man, though, I did.

I tried to explain to Jake that hurting another person is a horrible thing. It's not exciting or fun. Rather it is sick and evil.

It's a nightmare with lots of grief and pain, I said to him, not only for the families of the victims, but for the ones doing the harm.

Jake needed to know, too, that I have a tremendous amount of sorrow for what I did at a time when my own life was out of control. That I had no right to take people's lives, and how I would do anything if I could undo it.

To me this man appears to be living in a Hollywood-type fantasy world in which killing someone is portrayed as being of no big deal, and that it's cool.

I believe that when someone watches certain crime shows on television or in the movies, it is easy to get a false impression. So I tried to bust through Jake's immature and absurd ideas by telling him that inmates basically lead broken and defeated lives. We struggle to survive, and we must endure the day-to-day monotony of prison life.

I explained to Jake that being locked up is hard. That I myself have nearly twenty-eight years of confinement, and I have to live in a cage like an animal.

He needed to be told to look beyond his fascination with mass murderers and face reality.

I was firm with Jake, but I was kind. I hope I was able to help him to see that his present views are foolish.

D.B.



*Jake is not his real name.

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    David Berkowitz
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