Treatment Center Speech

My speech for the treatment center yesterday went well. Great responses, some synchronicities, and I even talked about dreams, so overall it went well. I received one email address from an audience member, which I am grateful for. Like Sharon Gehrman-Driscoll taught me through her use of an Emily Dickinson poem “if I can help but one heart from breaking, I shall not die in vain”.

Illegal for Me to Work in Treatment Centers and Own Air B & B?

MINI RANT: I just heard that Air B & B will not let someone use their service if you have a record. Not sure if it's state-by-state or what, but it's another obstacle to the societal integration of former offenders.

Gaining employment in treatment centers is illegal with a history of criminal violence, which might make sense to some people who don't think beyond their fear and self-imposed 'acceptable' standards of self-limitation. But there is life for others available FROM the advent of violence.

No matter how far down the scale one has gone in life, what they've done can be of service for others. Speaking about drinking in driving might save others from going down our path. Sometimes the dark past is the greatest light we can shine into the lives of others who are At Risk of entering the world we once knew. "KNEW," not KNOW.

I Am more than my Mugshot, but it's still illegal for me to help people in treatment centers? 'Once Upon a Time,' it was LEGAL in Minnesota for me to work in treatment centers (I worked in Hazelden for four years), but they changed the law, so now I can't work in treatment centers. The Senate and House are comedy galleries for voters who think the truth will lock people up and not set them free. I understand there are consequences for actions, naturally, but the mindset that disallows meaningful forgiveness is cruel and, unfortunately, usual.

Rant Over (for now).

Joining Prison Gangs to Survive, Choice or No Choice?

I watched a YouTube Vid about a guy who said if you’re white, you have to join a gang to survive in prison. I ain’t buyin’ it.

I thought about this for a while after hearing it and was very reluctant to comment on it. It was uncomfortable listening to this for many reasons that I won't touch on too much.

Life is worth more than joining a gang out of fear. Creator God is a strong gang if you will, right?

Someone said not to fear what people can do to the body, but rather focus on what's important (what they can do to the soul). Wouldn't it be better to die than join a gang that victimizes people in the most pernicious manner?

My life is far too sacred than to cheapen it by joining the AB or any other gang of predators. In prison, it broke my heart to know young men were repeatedly raped without fighting back out of fear for their life.

Rapists are cowards. Truth is, if they think they'll get their junk cut off (or bite off) or get stabbed in the heart over trying to get some ass, they'll go look for an easier target. People DO have a choice. The choice is tragic, I'll grant you that, but it's still a choice.

Now, if the gang is not sexual perps, are not predatory drug-heads who kill for profit, and are there for survival only, then maybe I could see where people might join any given gang.

My experience: all I can say is, Creator God protected me better than any gang ever could and why that happened, only God knows for sure. I started a gang in prison, but after they became corrupted, I walked away from the outfit.

Life is complicated, and I'm not judging anyone. Sure, DON'T GO TO PRISON is probably great advice, but it's not 'reality' that anyone, white, black, red or yellow, has to join a gang. I'm glad I survived long enough to sober up to love another day, that's all I'm sayin'. I don't miss the Bad Ol' Daze.

Every Shadow Has a Light

When we sleep and dream, we see colors that are as real as anything we see with our eyes wide-open in bright daylight, even though we are manufacturing our own light in the dream world. But sometimes the light in a dream is not of our own making, but of a Higher Light.

I know this will sound strange, but oh well. Before going to bed last night, I was in prayer and meditation, asking for wisdom on what to talk about in an upcoming speech. I also asked that the answer come in a dream, which in great part it did.

A recently departed Friend, Tom, was in the dream but ‘in the spirit’. I also saw some other people that had passed away (and some still living). I had a Guide there telling me what I needed to do. Yes, I was being guided on what to say.

After hearing what I to say and to whom, , I tried to do so, but it didn't come out clearly. It didn’t make sense as to ‘why’ I was to speak to a new person in recovery, because I didn’t know the person and he didn’t ask my opinion nor did he even ask for help. I was directed to try it again with someone else. This time it came out more clearly. As in ‘real’ life (physical life), what I learn usually precedes my ability to articulate it, unless I can get out of my own way enough to speak straight from the Spirit.

Back back to the dream. After the second rendition coming out OK, I was sitting at a bench, still thinking of how to put the speech together. A lake was nearby, which relevance I have no idea about. A number of people were walking by me, some looking at me, some not. That's when my Friend Tom came to walk by me; he stopped and stared at me. He was surprised to see me there, like "How can you even be here" sort of a look. Tom is in the After World.

Tom looked different like he was both who he was before operations and who he was afterward, both at once (if you know what I mean). Don't know how to say it better.

Then I woke up and talked about the dream with Tricia over coffee. After I described the dream, she said she heard a voice tell her, ‘You can’t be here. You’re dead.’ Not sure I quoted her right, but she said she knew what I was going to talk about before I told her. Those words are like the look Tom gave me.

So what topic am I supposed to talk about? Connectivity and Respect. We are all connected, like every person, place or thing we come into contact with, becomes a part of us and vice-versa. Everything serves a purpose. Even self-sabotage serves a purpose, in that if we can be our own worst enemy, doesn’t it prove we can also be our own best friend? Every shadow has a light. Resentments are the unseen or shadow side of the coin and the light side is gratitude. But as St. John of the Cross pointed out, the Ray of Darkness is possible in The Dark Night of the Soul. When we are grateful for the entirety of our life experiences, even as formerly incarcerated persons, then the time we served begins to serve us. Remember what Goethe said the real prisons are self-imposed and C.S. Lewis said the door to hell is only opened from the inside.

So I'm putting this speech together and if you happen to have actually read this, I’m respectfully asking for your prayers.

Actually two speeches are coming up, one for treatment center folks this Saturday and one for Toastmasters on Monday evening (the one I prayed for). Maybe I’ll touch on parts of the second speech in the first one?

Thanks for your prayers, intentions and positive energy!

Michigan Lawmaker Dies in Apparent Suicide after Drunk Driving Arrest

At the conclusion of this Blog Post is a YouTube Video about the Lawmaker who killed himself. We need to start Grief Groups for offenders. I’ve been saying this for years. Upon hearing of his suicide on YouTube, here's what some people said:

"Nice to hear a swamp rat self terminating."

"GREAT GUY? GREAT GUY? MEMORIES THEY SHARED? Typical politicians, good friends, all drunks."

"WHAT A WEAKLING!!!!" "Hell he was. A damn drunk"

"Boo Hoo"

My thoughts: Celebrating suicide? No wonder they call it Alcoholic's "Anonymous."

MADD has Grief Groups for Victims, but nothing for Offenders who are suicidal over injuring someone or worse, killing them. It seems CRUELTY has become the National Religion. For me, the starting point is love and what follows forgiveness.

I know two women who both lost their son to an impaired driver. Both forgave the offender and said they love him. One of them said we need to forgive, regardless of the temperature of our hearts, and that no one has a right to be a barrier to a fellow human being who wants to get well." Great Role Model! It is not a lack of loyalty to our loved-ones who passed or some type of aberrant permission of wrongdoing to forgive. Grief takes its own road and it takes as long as it takes. Just don't let grief kill your hearts.

Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don't say it mean. Truth without compassion is cruelty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr8DBzHbfSk

The Presumption of Innocence is Akin to a National Miracle.

The presumption of innocence is akin to a national miracle. We've made serious efforts to see the good in others as demonstrated by our actions, even when we might not want to at any given time. I carry this in my daily walk with others, near and far, albeit imperfectly.

Both emotionally and in action (not inaction and apathy), making our words match our behavior means to have the courage to live out loud. While it's a more energy-draining endeavor for so many people, seeing the good in both offender and victim is a good starting point when it comes to controversy. With this habit, we can give ourselves permission to overcome our shortcomings, too, and start with a clean slate. Seeing the good in cops and criminals is the starting point for planting seeds in clean soil.

Problematic behavior and systemic abuse are realities that need not be brushed-over, but starting with a problem often traps the person in the issue. Starting with a solution is also a trap because solutions need a problem to solve, and the symbiosis constructs a revolving door of smug complacency. "Good" doesn't require the absence of 'bad' in a Universal sense of Trust. I trust that every problem bears a Higher Message when we change lenses and see with innocent eyes. Childlike, not childish. Be as little children for such is the Kingdom of Heaven is what Jesus said.

Ben Shapiro's Money, Privilege and Freedom of Expression

I occasioned to watch a video where a man was threatened with physical violence for verbalizing his controversial opinion which he calls ‘fact’. Fact or not, it’s a Free Speech issue to me, and his being on a televised debate was a profitable venture embarked upon by the business-minded people who invited him. Controversy ‘sells’ and makes for good ratings. Therefore it makes sense that the two polar opinion-bearers are placed next to each other. That being one Zoey Tur and Ben Shapiro. Zoey, a Transgender, threatened Ben with a trip to the hospital, cupping one hand on the back of Ben’s neck while doing so. Ben is hardly the size of Zoey and small in stature in comparison. With dripping zealotry, Zoey on several occasions referred to Ben as “little man”.

Threatening anyone to be 'sent home in an ambulance' is 'Hate Speech' and in my opinion, as I have no proof, was planned by Zoey and maybe with the blessings of producers. Zoey not suffering immediate consequences for that threat of violence is at the very least unacceptable. One person going home in an ambulance and one going home to a jail cell for an 18-hour nap and a slap on the wrist is crazy on so many levels.

Zoey’s opinion is popular and money in this country buys justice, especially within the insulated communities from which Zoey finds protection, and is typical of the facto-phobic societal sewage in which they are swimming. The reverse would probably also hold true had the tables been turned and Zoey went to the hospital and Ben to jail.

Bullies of any kind, Left or Right, are not impressive in a Free Speech arena. Mr. Oduolowu, the man who distanced himself from Mr. Shapiro in this setting but was voiceless when Ben was being threatened, is lame, as were the other guests and host. Mr. Oduolowu’s knee-jerk lowbrow rhetoric, about 'not being with him' (in so many words) smacked of cowardice. Mr. Oduolowu‘s argument should rise or fall on its own merit and not be a ‘deception of guilt by association’.

Apparently having loving conversations, a first cousin to respectful discussions, doesn't sell as many tickets to the rating melange. Going where the money is and going where the respect is, need not be diametrically opposed. I'm not taking arguments from either side here. I'm talking about Free Speech in a non-violent dichotomy, which is all about the interior climate and is never anyone else's fault. Hang up the Blamethrowers.

Here’s the YouTube video, which is a ‘mix’ of different Ben Shapiro showings with an obvious bias in his favor, considering who posted it and how it was titled. Please don’t think I am siding with anyone. I subscribe to Live and Let Live. I know several people who are Trans Bender and look, I’ll call them whatever they want to be called. I had a legal name change many years ago, and if someone insisted on calling me by my old name, I would respectfully request they not do so. But of course, I would not act like an assaultive felon if someone said 'whatever' and expressed a childish opinion about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDPXV1b65nA