5 weeks

Hello Everyone,
Wow, 5 weeks left. I can actually count them on one hand. Pretty cool. I am not sure if I mentioned this last week, but the days are definitely getting longer….
Some thoughts on the lofty ambitions I came here with. When I came here, after the initial shock wore off at least, I thought of all of the change that I could be part of. How I could make this a better place and how men’s lives would be changed because of my “enormous” presence in them, etc., etc., etc…. At some point along the way, I gave up on that inflated thinking and just started to focus on finishing the day in front of me.
Like the other day: I am walking out of my cube (cell) on the way to workout and there are 2 guys basically lined up to talk to me. The first has a problem that he cannot resolve with someone in our unit who will not conform to some basic sanitation standards, since I am basically the entire Inmate Conflict Resolution Group right now it is my job to confront him and see if he is willing to change before staff or other inmates take it upon themselves to compel him to change….the next guy is finishing up a 3 year sentence in a couple of weeks and has just found out that there is another man living at his house and he will not be able to go home to his wife, his house; what he thought was his life…needless to say that I missed my workout. After that I helped a couple of guys clarify and put down their long and short term goals on paper (I lead a goal setting workshop occasionally) and then helped a guy write a poem for his wife…taught a personal trainer course…played some chess and went to bed. All in all a fairly typical day.
So in the end, I did not change the system, stop crime, end world hunger, etc…but I did show up and offer whatever little I had to whoever wanted it and I am strangely, somehow, more than satisfied with my humble contributions….Did I mention I only have 5 weeks left?

Joe