Imagine that you are not feeling like yourself and after some delay you finally go to the doctor to find out what's wrong. You're given blood tests and the doctor probes and runs other tests to find out what's wrong. A week later you get that dreaded call: "You have stage five cancer...we'll do all we can, but it's not looking good."
You ask how much time you have and when you find out that it's only months to live, you are forced at that time to make a choice. You can either see the beauty of life like never before and choose to live the life you have left to the fullest, or you can throw in the cards and wallow in the despair you'll inevitably feel at this news.
Prison is not always a sentence of death (although for some it is), but when you're sentenced to prison you're also faced with two options: learn to see the beauty in life that before you took for granted, and learn to live life to the fullest, or shrivel up in fear and anger at all you've lost.
You see, either way, whether in the dreaded news from the doctor, or in the sentence from a harsh judge, perspective is what makes all the difference. I have seen men with life sentences who have come to peace with their life and are living life seeing all of the beauty even in this living hell, and I have see others with very short sentences throw away their chance at life and freedom because they never learned to appreciate the beauty that life offers everyone who chooses to see it.
God makes the sun rise on the just and the unjust, and sends rain on those who love Him and those who curse Him to His face. But we have a choice in how we respond to the tragedies of life. We have a choice in whether we see the beauty in God's gifts to us, or simply complain that they aren't what we want, and how we want them. And in that response lies all the difference in the world.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Monday, June 16, 2014
When Faith and Hope Falters
When I began this blog I titled it "Hope on the Inside" because I wanted to use my writing to express the hope I have, in God, in life, in redemption. Nearly two years ago I wrote a post called "Earnest Expectations" about faith being the legs of hope, the earnest expectation that transcends wishful thinking.
But what do you do when inundated with nothing but bad news? Do you lose hope entirely, or watch it fade into nothing more than a faint image of what it was before your faith was relentlessly assaulted.
Lately I've been bombarded by painful news. But really, most news prisoners receive in prison is painful. Even "good" news because it reminds us of what we're missing... new births, marriages, new jobs, graduations. You want to experience these things rather than hear about them. You want to be there to help or comfort in the bad times... illness, death, divorce, kids making bad choices - adults making bad choices. And what do you do with your own bad news when you're cut off either by fences of razor wire or walls of rejection from those you love, whose help and comfort you need?
I don't know what the answer is because I'm not moving mountains with my faith...yet.
And so, I continue to hang onto hope, speaking and praying those things that are not as if they are, and when my faith falters I go back to the Source with a plea for more. I remind myself that "I would have lost heart (hope), unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." (Psalm 27:13)
But what do you do when inundated with nothing but bad news? Do you lose hope entirely, or watch it fade into nothing more than a faint image of what it was before your faith was relentlessly assaulted.
Lately I've been bombarded by painful news. But really, most news prisoners receive in prison is painful. Even "good" news because it reminds us of what we're missing... new births, marriages, new jobs, graduations. You want to experience these things rather than hear about them. You want to be there to help or comfort in the bad times... illness, death, divorce, kids making bad choices - adults making bad choices. And what do you do with your own bad news when you're cut off either by fences of razor wire or walls of rejection from those you love, whose help and comfort you need?
I don't know what the answer is because I'm not moving mountains with my faith...yet.
And so, I continue to hang onto hope, speaking and praying those things that are not as if they are, and when my faith falters I go back to the Source with a plea for more. I remind myself that "I would have lost heart (hope), unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." (Psalm 27:13)
Monday, June 2, 2014
Michigan Prisoner Wages
Michigan prisoners have been working at the same pay rates since the
early 1970's. Michigan pays prisoners to work jobs such as
maintenance, yard work, janitorial, food preparation and service,
recreation, various clerk positions, and more. While you might be
surprised that Michigan pays its prisoners at all, the wages range
from $0.54 to $3.34 per DAY. The average rate is around $1 per day.
You might think it unfair that prisoners are paid at all, but the MDOC
requires prisoners to pay for all cosmetics, all over the counter
medications (Tylenol, asprin, allergy meds, etc.), $5 co-pays for
medical care, $0.23 per minute for telephone calls, writing paper,
pens and postage, and more. Additionally, since recent reductions in
food portions often do not provide enough calories for people with an
active lifestyle, many prisoners purchase additional food items to
supplement their diets. This all on a salary of an average of $1 per
day.
While the cost of living has risen steadily since the early '70's and
the minimum wage has risen from $1.60 per hour in 1973 to the current
$7.35 per hour (soon to be over $9 per hour), Michigan prisoner wages
have only decreased, and much of what we now pay for used to be
provided by the state. Even most of the Industry jobs previously
available to prisoners (which saved the state money) are no longer
available. Because most prisoners cannot provide for all of their
needs at these wages, the responsibility falls on already struggling
families to help their incarcerated loved ones.
Michigan needs to raise wages for prisoners, create more industry jobs
again, or as many states do, provide the necessities and rather than
pay prisoners at all, offer good time (time off sentences) for jobs
performed.
early 1970's. Michigan pays prisoners to work jobs such as
maintenance, yard work, janitorial, food preparation and service,
recreation, various clerk positions, and more. While you might be
surprised that Michigan pays its prisoners at all, the wages range
from $0.54 to $3.34 per DAY. The average rate is around $1 per day.
You might think it unfair that prisoners are paid at all, but the MDOC
requires prisoners to pay for all cosmetics, all over the counter
medications (Tylenol, asprin, allergy meds, etc.), $5 co-pays for
medical care, $0.23 per minute for telephone calls, writing paper,
pens and postage, and more. Additionally, since recent reductions in
food portions often do not provide enough calories for people with an
active lifestyle, many prisoners purchase additional food items to
supplement their diets. This all on a salary of an average of $1 per
day.
While the cost of living has risen steadily since the early '70's and
the minimum wage has risen from $1.60 per hour in 1973 to the current
$7.35 per hour (soon to be over $9 per hour), Michigan prisoner wages
have only decreased, and much of what we now pay for used to be
provided by the state. Even most of the Industry jobs previously
available to prisoners (which saved the state money) are no longer
available. Because most prisoners cannot provide for all of their
needs at these wages, the responsibility falls on already struggling
families to help their incarcerated loved ones.
Michigan needs to raise wages for prisoners, create more industry jobs
again, or as many states do, provide the necessities and rather than
pay prisoners at all, offer good time (time off sentences) for jobs
performed.
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