This is usually one of the more difficult days for anyone who's incarcerated...
For many prisoners, there are the memories of warm family gatherings and lives that were once filled with hope and promise. But then came incarceration, a sense of failure, and much regret. It's not easy for a man who now has to live behind bars of iron to deal with what he's lost, if he was fortunate enough to have had such things in the past.
Nevertheless, at approximately 12 noon, the traditional Thanksgiving meal was served, and I was allowed the standard twenty minutes to eat it. I must confess, however, that the meal was unappetizing. And in the middle of my compartmentalized plastic tray sat a piece of oval-shaped pale meat which was supposed to be turkey. It had been commercially pressed, processed and "mechanically separated," prior to its getting plopped on my tray. Poor bird!
Yet as I sat with a few of my Christian friends who live with me in the same cell block, our hearts were filled with an "attitude of gratitude" because while the meal was bland and our slice of turkey had no taste other than salt, we were aware that we're probably eating better than half the world's population.
Then, after the meal, when I was in my cell, I heard a familiar honking sound. So I looked out my little window and up to the sky to see several flocks of geese in flight. To observe them traveling in nearly perfect formation and moving with such a degree of freedom brought joy to my heart and a smile to my face. Surely the earth is filled with the goodness of God.
D.B.
Nevertheless, at approximately 12 noon, the traditional Thanksgiving meal was served, and I was allowed the standard twenty minutes to eat it. I must confess, however, that the meal was unappetizing. And in the middle of my compartmentalized plastic tray sat a piece of oval-shaped pale meat which was supposed to be turkey. It had been commercially pressed, processed and "mechanically separated," prior to its getting plopped on my tray. Poor bird!
Yet as I sat with a few of my Christian friends who live with me in the same cell block, our hearts were filled with an "attitude of gratitude" because while the meal was bland and our slice of turkey had no taste other than salt, we were aware that we're probably eating better than half the world's population.
Then, after the meal, when I was in my cell, I heard a familiar honking sound. So I looked out my little window and up to the sky to see several flocks of geese in flight. To observe them traveling in nearly perfect formation and moving with such a degree of freedom brought joy to my heart and a smile to my face. Surely the earth is filled with the goodness of God.
D.B.
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