Wholeness

A glimpse of freedom and inner peace: Discovering wholeness within confinement, a vision of hope beyond the bars.

I’ve been thinking today about what makes us whole. What is being whole? I guess wholeness is subjective, yet we should all strive for it in prison or outside of prison right? I’ve heard many people in prison talk about how bad the food is, the lack of a/c, lack of heat. These circumstances are very important and the issues exist at many prisons. Personally, I think the underlying treatment of human beings behind that should be considered. For instance, we call ourselves a society that is driven toward wholeness... and yet we’re lacking compassion, fairness and justice and these all need to be addressed in prison or out.

My focus today is on being grateful and seeking wholeness. Having been incarcerated 40+ years, I can only speak from within and the experiences I’ve had inside. We have very little here, as far as money, comforts, and even uncertain futures. Yet, we do have a choice to recognize and be grateful, grateful for the help we get from each other or the help we get from our families...meaningful conversations, meals that we get creative with from the items from canteen and other things. We can think about the past or we can make new memories that are priceless…and nobody can take those away. I think that says a lot about our character inside and maybe it’s a path toward wholeness, for real.

When I think about wholeness...I wonder if it can come for those of us incarcerated and not given a second chance. I continue to pray daily for a Miracle, and I have a stack of over 600 pages of diplomas, certificates, support letters, etc. I thought for over four decades that I was working toward wholeness, working for a second chance to do life better. When I thought today, I grieve for victims. I grieve for families, our families of incarcerated people. I grieve for my life. I’ve been working consciously for four decades to make amends for my young mistakes to feel whole. I was believing that a second chance was wholeness.

I think today I came to the realization that wholeness includes many things, and we all strive for it our entire life. Freedom is part of it. How we treat others is part of it and just maybe the broken, the damaged, and those of us that feel thrown away by society or parole boards or prisons. Sometimes maybe we’re just closer to that wholeness.

This is Karen sharing that our criminal justice system is moving away from wholeness. How we treat "the least of these" is making our world a meaner place for all of us. I’d like to start to see actions in medical treatment, second chances, adequate compassion, adequate conditions, better laws and forgiveness earned through rehabilitation and wholeness strived for…