Corrections – A Hard Odyssey – Walking among Snakes

As a correctional officer you have surely by now learned of the many evils that lurk around you. Working inside a prison is no greater evil as it is likened as working in Hell. You are cooped up all day inside a dark cave and surrounded by evil forces and violence but it is your courage, intelligence and survival skills that allow you to escape these evil walls each day and go home. In this arena, going home is a win.

Realistically there are no leaders to applaud you on or cheer you up; you are reminded you have persevered through the worse but the reality is it doesn’t sound much like a motivational speech nor does it inspire you. Being stuck inside that darkened cave with the mass population of homicidal prisoners and enemies makes you day just that much more badly.

The inspiration has to come from within and remind you of your ability to be resilient and hard as your force is greater than the others but you are worn and in dire need of sleep. Restless, you don’t want to let your companions down so while fatigued you stand your watch creating an attitude that you are made of iron and steel.

Sometimes when you sweat or bleed you are reminded you are human. Not God-like but not like normal humans as you endure and cope with this hellish heat that bears down on you in a furious glow ball of fire.  Sometimes you are sucked down under water but somehow you always find the strength and energy to reach up and out so high above you and come up for air that is in the clouds.

Daily you brace your feet and stretch your arms beyond the normal limits of your body and strain to get the work done. Your roots are those around you as you promise to take the six so they are safer than before but not out of reach of perils. In the darkness you find feces, urine and vomit and refuse to keel backwards at the foul smell around you.

You long for peace but find hate; you yearn for kindness but you only find a harsh and toxic inhumane conditions that cause you to rise your alert levels so that you do not walk into a pit of poisonous spirits that surround you daily.

The law is on your side but it does not matter – the arrogance and bedlam around you dominate the environments moods and actions. You are judged and your presence brings you many disputes and ill feelings by young and old wearing chains but claiming innocence of their crimes. You try to laugh as you see at the irony how they act with infected state of minds, unknown to their families and lawyers.

Surrounded by all creatures you have to breathe the polluted air and walk among the demons. These castaways are society’s rejects but to you they are the ones you have sworn to protect from each other. Inside you is the courage granted by the God above you while your knees suffer the endless pounding of the concrete below your feet.

Some days you are blessed and other days you are cursed. You never know what will encounter you nor do you have the knowledge of their will. On a good day, karma and your loving God bestows you blessings and allows you to walk away and go home just to go back to this Hell hole and do it all over again. So you suffer physically and mentally but with perseverance you learn to endure with the endless enduring spirit bestowed upon you not by authority or position but by the courage you demonstrate as you walk these darkened caves one more time. 

 

 

Why Lie?

News12 video interview 

Why Lie?

Watching the news we have become desensitized to the good, the bad and the ugliness of the reports shown on television and in the newspapers. We have been reprogrammed to not react and let it pass as another event insignificant to our own lives. Society has accepted lies as a means to tell the story and nobody questions the contents of the reports out there and challenge it with the truth.
Contesting the accuracy of various press releases or public statements from public officials may in fact reveal interesting facts of a cover up or a deliberate attempt to distract and divert the attention to something else. The tactic works well and is commonly called a “smoke and mirror” game by some.
The truth is often buried as the evidence to contest the released information exists but suppressed through fear and intimidation of witnesses or participants. Those that knew about the events will not say what the evidence to the contrary is and leave a “sleeping dog lay” so they don’t have to be involved. Hence there are no contradictions and no issues to resolve.
When a press release is offered as an explanation of an incident it is often left open for interpretation as it flatly denies any culpability or prior knowledge of the matter but is now politically corrected to show action is about to be taken or has been taken to address the matter. The strategy is simple – people forget.
Plausible deniability is a strong management tool. It exonerates the very same people that might have created the problem or event by playing the part and being ignorant to the facts. You can tell people that you weren’t aware of the problem and that you will immediately address it now that they understand it better.
Playing the part of having no prior knowledge gives them more time to perform a delicate sanitizing of the problem and initiate damage control.
Realistically, as a loyal employee one would have a hard time believing they didn’t know about it and that nobody bothered to tell him of this matter when they knew about it. It appears to have appeared out of thin air and will now require a strategy of planning, execution and implementing change after it was over or disclosed and first found out about it.

 

Beast Mode

Beast Mode video