The Rhythms of Time

WHILE SITTING on the steps of a prison yard with an inmate friend, Ed, he asked a question that startled me. "How would you like to face a 200 year sentence?" he asked.

Still trying to grasp what that would be like, I asked, "Ed, how have you managed to face this with such a calmness and serenity?"

Looking like a college professor as he gazed at me over his reading glasses, he replied in that slow drawl of his, "Well, age helps. I've been in prison since '77. I'm not a happy camper about it, but what can I do?"

"However," he added with a twinkle in his eyes, "I'll be eligible for parole when I'm 111."

As I struggled to comprehend this, I was reminded that the essence of all time well spent is that it helps us to experience the peace, dignity, and positive potential of our true nature.

One of the best compliments one inmate can give to another is to mention the ability to do his or her time well. As I try to come to terms with my own sentence, I look around and see some who have become hard and cynical and others who have used their time to find a peace and centeredness within.

We can see the rhythms of time everywhere - the sun rises and sets, the hours pass, the days come and go, the seasons change. People age and die, babies are born. Life goes on.

Our concept of time and whether it's passing quickly or slowly, depends on which side of the bathroom door we're on. Modern research has found that our experience of time shifts according to our age, mental state, health, occupation, and basic attitudes toward life. This explains why the perception of the passage of time is different for each individual.

The eye of eternity is not found in the future; neither is it found at the end of time. The eye of eternity is only found NOW. When we come to accept and embrace NOW, we're open to experience infinity within our present circumstances - which is the only place it lies. Our lesson is to just stay in the present - that fleeting, eternal, precious moment where the past and future meet.

The Smart Way

IN ARIZONA, inmates are returning to prison in droves, as recidivists. Few are immune to the low self-esteem of shame, alienation, and inadequate skills for coping successfully in our society. In view of the chances of success upon release, the future doesn't look particularly bright. Hope exists, but it must be claimed by each inmate. Hope is found in beating the system, the smart way.

The smart way is not the path many have taken: defiance, conflict with the system, doing time in the hole to prove something that nobody really understands or respects anyway. Investing energy in destructive behavior only destroys the individual. Destructive behaviors have not changed the reality of prisons. The system still controls the keys.

The smart way to beat the system is to accept reality and devise a strategy for dealing with it. A decision needs to be made... one that is simple, but with profound implications. To beat the system, inmates need to decide individually that "I am worth investing personal effort in."

The first step is to consider a sentence as an "opportunity" instead of just a burden to be endured. Opportunities for education exist at Santa Rita, but the greatest barrier to their effectiveness is the inmate's attitude, not the quality of the resources.

Education is the best and most enduring experience that can be extracted from the prison system. Knowledge and skills are for life. No one can rob us of our ability to think, understand, and solve problems.

Education and training...
...ensure that in a competitively tough marketplace,
   the inmate will have a niche where he can fit in.
...allow the inmate to see himself as a "winner"
   instead of a perpetual loser.
...would build a self-esteem that says,
   "I am worthwhile; I can contribute; I can do things well."

Doing the job requires that we not only are literate and skilled, but that we can think logically to solve problems. The modern workplace needs people who can adapt and change to meet the needs of new technology; people who are used to learning.

An education is the ultimate for restorative justice. The entire population benefits when just one inmate becomes literate. Pride is contagious and those who have advanced their educational skills while imprisoned have reason to lift their heads in self-assurance.

The positive learning skills acquired in the Santa Rita classroom can't be taken away at the gate. Education is the smart way to beat the system.

© 2006, Tom Brown

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Charles "Tom" Brown was a successful investor who did very well in real estate, oil, and the stock market. Friends began asking him to invest for them, too. And he did. Things went well, and more people heard about his abilities and wanted to be included in the investment strategies he had devised. All went well until there was a dramatic change in the market. All that went up turned down, and Tom wanted everyone to still have a profit - his big mistake - as he wanted to be well thought of. Tom was accused of defrauding investors. Although it was shown that he had never diverted any money for himself other than a modest commission, through unbelievable mishandling by an incompetent or dishonest attorney, what should have been a one-year sentence became a 17-year sentence. At the time of judgment, Tom was 62 years of age.

The purpose of Tom's blog is not to dwell on the injustice, but rather, to show the incredible unfoldment of consciousness in a man who has taken this sentence and created a workshop of Soul and Spirit out of it. His words are designed to help us see into life and do better with what we've been given. Tom's Beyond the Wall blog is located at www.Beyondthewall.blogs.com.  If you would like to write to Tom, he appreciates correspondence.  He does not have access to a computer but can be reached via Charles "Tom" Brown, # 140237, ASPC - Lewis, Barchey Blue - D2 - E5, P.O.Box 3200, Buckeye, AZ, 85326.