Changing our Minds

A soft rain fell over Georgia during the night. As midnight approached, the Supreme Court of the United States sent a final ruling to a death sentence appeal down this way and Troy Davis was executed before this day began. He proclaimed his innocence until the end. Who knows the truth?

For me, Truth is a Person and only when we are accountable to Him can we hope to change. The philosopher and playwright George Bernard Shaw said, "Those who cannot change their mind cannot change anything." This statement rings with truth. But, how do we change--especially our minds? It's not so easy, especially when conflict, our pride, our lack of knowledge or examples to follow are factors. We need help!

I was at the prison yesterday from 1- 6PM, a little longer than usual. The Authors Club was interviewing new members, about twenty in all. It's quite an interview process with the members asking their own prepared questions of the interviewee. Those prospects who have had a DR or Disciplinary Report within the last three months are dealt with first. Out. Those who can't handle thinking of themselves as professional enough to report every other week on one project at a time by showing visable page progress, are eliminated. This "supreme court" of the Authors Club had to make these very important decisions in order for the group to go forward, to grow in unity. Above them is a Deputy Warden who has given the group this freedom to function and be productive. Law, Decency, Order--words we sometimes don't like to hear.

I sat with the nervous prospects in another room while they waited to be called. They face their fears and insecurities at times like this in different ways. In the main, they were quiet, some writing, some talking--if they came back into the room after their interview they weren't supposed to give the process away. That's why I was there, The Proctor in this dynamic. Not a good role for me.

We waited in a classroom for those getting their GEDs--the walls covered with information about the basics: reading, writing and arithmatic. I listened to one of the newer inmates complain to a guard about what was lacking in the prison system. Meanwhile in New York City, President Obama was speaking to the United Nations about Israel and the creation of a Palestinian state and asking the majority of nations to change their minds.

I picked a book off a shelf and began to read. It was Nancy Reagan's story of her life as First Lady, My Turn. It really took me back to the 80s when our country was much, much less divided than it is now--when we could actually pray for a President when he was shot whether we were Democrats or Republicans. I found myself getting a little angry at how divided we have become.

"A house divided cannot stand." Abraham Lincoln used those words spoken by Jesus, the One from Israel, the One I believe is the Truth. For healing and reconciliation in ourselves, with others, in our families, in our nation, in the world, the ability to change has to be accepted and embraced as the right way to go. We have to want to not be divided. At times like these--we who have inherited the belief that we, the people, can govern ourselves--we wonder if there are Supreme Absolutes? Higher, more Solid Thinking we can rest in? But do we want to change?

"Those who cannot change their mind cannot change anything." George Bernard Shaw. Before GBS and Jesus, Aristotle, another philosopher, said, "One may go wrong in many different ways, but right in only one way." Wisdom is wisdom no matter what the age we live in.

Before the Authors Club meeting ended and I followed someone with a key out of the prison into the coming night to rest in whatever decision the Supreme Court of the United States would make about Troy Davis, I gave the women a challenge to write a response to George Bernard Shaw's statement.

I look forward to what they have to say.

Where is home...if that's where the heart is?

"Home is where the heart is" is a trite phrase used often by people in daily life--and twice by writers featured in this blog. In writing we are to avoid using these kinds of words or, at least, put quotation marks around them to show that we know they are overused and have lost meaning. But, home was a theme these women prisoners wanted to write about--and that is where their hearts are.

These days in our nation, home and home life appear often to be a disaster. Soon we will remember September 11, 2001, when, ten years ago, our nation was attacked by those who did not think of America as their "home." Soon after that horrible event, we were introduced to the concept of this country as our "homeland." The words seemed strange, as if a truth we knew, perhaps took for granted, was being forced upon us.

H.O.M.E. Those four letters form a very powerful word: soldiers are coming "home," a family loses its "home" to foreclosure, a little Jewish boy in Brooklyn on his way "home" gets lost and is killed by a stranger, a 100 year-old prayer warrior goes "home" to Glory.

What is home really? A dwelling place of wood or brick? A particular spot on earth? People? A concept? A feeling?  If we, like the prisoner, have to give up everything or if we sell all we have like Jesus urged the rich young man to do, do we have no "home?"

The great American poet, Robert Frost, said, "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."  The prisoner knows this and the writings in this blog reflect that--or show the difference.