DannyBoyinExile

Nothing lasts forever, and that includes lockdown. After five days of sack meals and sweating, they rolled the doors and let us go to chow – and the lockdown was over with.
It always feels better to be able to come out of the cell and move around again, but freedom is only as sweet as your surroundings. I mean, it’s still just as hot, loud, and crowded in the dayroom, they still serve the same old meals for chow, and they’re still as short of staff as ever. Some people CHOSE to remain in their cells (some people’s cages are mental, after all), but I relished the chance to leave mine.
Of course, off of lockdown meant off to work, at least for me. (They didn’t stop trying to burn the place down while I was on lockdown, for sure.) And all the guys who got caught with phones are citizens of B wing now – and find it hilarious that people refer to my wing as “T-Mobile” now. (Those of us who just ate five days worth of children’s meals because of them? Not so much…)
The administration installed metal detectors at strategic spots in the hallway, in its determination to crack down on cell phones – and THE SAME DAY, Wynne Unit’s newest dumbest criminal got caught with one… At least they decided to lock HIM up, instead of his entire wing (or the entire hallway!), so I guess that’s progress.
The moral of the story, I guess, is that there will usually BE progress, as long as I do my part. If I can keep my head up, remain within my character, and simply stay away from the things I shouldn’t be involved in, I’ll always be able to make sure my hardships are only temporary.
We all have a conscience, that tells us what is right or wrong. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, that I knew I shouldn’t have. And every single time, a voice in my head was whispering to me (even shouting to me, at times) that I was making a mistake – but I chose to override it, and did it anyway. Maybe the definition of maturity is as simple as learning to listen to that voice. It never tells us what to do, but it tells us what we SHOULDN’T do – and that’s just as important. So says DannyBoy.