Lately I've been thinking about the concept of "time..."
In the world of prison, time can be a powerful force for change. It can erode the hard exterior of a man as he spends his days in confinement. And under the right conditions it can help a man to find his true self and become a better person. Or it could have the opposite effect to allow for a man's heart to become hardened.
I know firsthand, having spent almost forty years locked up, how time along with other factors could work on a man from the inside. In this case I'm referring to what goes on in a prisoner's heart and mind as the days, months and years grind past.
The fact is, time unrelentingly marches on. It stops for no one. But what happens to an individual like myself who finds himself shut away from society? As one might expect, some bad things happen. True! But surprisingly, good things could happen as well.
On the negative side of time, and this is what I want to focus on today, time can cause one's heart to become hardened. As rays from the sun harden clay, so can time have a similar affect upon the human heart. And should this occur, a prisoner may drift further into a state of denial to where he will refuse to honestly face what caused him to come to prison in the first place. Nor will he take responsibility for his crime, and may even push the blame for it upon others.
Such a person will not allow for soul-searching and honest self-reflection. He may become so wrapped up in living the criminal lifestyle and trying to maintain a tough, hoodlum image, that he remains in a state of perpetual incorrigibility. Thus he will live as a thug, and die as one, too.
D. B.
NOTE: This is Part I.
I know firsthand, having spent almost forty years locked up, how time along with other factors could work on a man from the inside. In this case I'm referring to what goes on in a prisoner's heart and mind as the days, months and years grind past.
The fact is, time unrelentingly marches on. It stops for no one. But what happens to an individual like myself who finds himself shut away from society? As one might expect, some bad things happen. True! But surprisingly, good things could happen as well.
On the negative side of time, and this is what I want to focus on today, time can cause one's heart to become hardened. As rays from the sun harden clay, so can time have a similar affect upon the human heart. And should this occur, a prisoner may drift further into a state of denial to where he will refuse to honestly face what caused him to come to prison in the first place. Nor will he take responsibility for his crime, and may even push the blame for it upon others.
Such a person will not allow for soul-searching and honest self-reflection. He may become so wrapped up in living the criminal lifestyle and trying to maintain a tough, hoodlum image, that he remains in a state of perpetual incorrigibility. Thus he will live as a thug, and die as one, too.
D. B.
NOTE: This is Part I.
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