DannyBoyinExile

If I thought that lockdown would be nothing but a peaceful, stress-free vacation, I was wrong. It sounds crazy, I know, (for me to be wrong, I mean!) but it’s true.
Lockdown comes with its own unique set of problems – and it’s up to us whether we let them stress us out or not. For example, no sooner had we closed our cell doors behind us, did we discover that our phones went on lockdown, too. The Administration turned the phones off for the duration of the lockdown.
I personally don’t understand the necessity of that decision. We can still order movies, games, music, and emails – so why wouldn’t we be allowed to call our families? As a wise man once said, “Ours not to make reply, ours not to reason why, ours but to do and die.” (That’s not TDCJ’s motto, by the way – Alfred Tennyson said that, in The Charge of the Light Brigade.) (But it COULD be TDCJ’s motto!) :-}
I decided that with the money I’d be saving on phone calls I could rent a few movies, so I did. I rented Hail Caesar, which contained so many A-list actors that it was practically GUARANTEED to be good – but, alas, it wasn’t.
Then all the electricity went out, for the entire unit. Which means we had no power, lights – or fans! We had to sit here in the dark, sweating, until they got it fixed. People were excited to discover that their tablets still worked. But “worked” is a relative term. You could turn them on, of course, as long as their batteries were charged. Without Wi-Fi, though, there was very little we could actually do with them. Theory worked as a night light, at least!
Remember that we only shower on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, during lockdown. That’s assuming that there is electricity, which there wasn’t. So the showers were as dead as our phones.
The general consensus was that they would run showers on Saturday, instead, but that was more of an assumption. (An incorrect one, at that!) We were all waiting for showers the next morning – and it’s Sunday now, and we’re STILL waiting! There was an inmate symphony of yelling, beating, and banging in protest, but there’s nothing we can do except wait for Monday. All the histrionics will only make you more sweaty!
After so many years in prison, I’ve learned to be patient – or at least, to keep my impatience to myself! I tend to stay aloof from mass demonstrations – especially when I realize that they are a waste of time. If people would use their energies on something constructive, they might actually accomplish something for a change. The only thing THEY accomplished was giving me something to write about! I turned on my tablet (as a night light, of course), grabbed a pen, and went to work.
In my experience, creativity solves far more problems than protesting does. And that’s a lesson that will always be useful – even on lockdown. So says DannyBoy.