8-12-2009
The Sun Magazine has a section called "Readers Write" in which readers write on the topic of the month. The current topic is FENCES, and I was impressed with a thoughtful essay that I'm enclosing for you. It tells of a close-knit neighborhood that became divided over an issue (Propsition8). The last sentence says it all - "I Wish our fences were only six feet tall again."
I thought of the times that I too have put up barriers because of differences and decided to write something about tearing down those fences. May it inspire us to see the sacredness in each other, to find a way to sing the one voiceless song, the common beat between all hearts.
As strange as it may appear, some fences are being torn down here on this prison yard. The razor-wire fence that encloses this yard is very much here, but it only imprisons our physical form. The current economic situation has resulted in job cuts, pay cuts, and increased costs of commissary items, but all of this has, in many ways, brought us closer together. We have little or nothing, buyt yet I see the fellows sharing what little they have and helping each other more than I've ever seen before.
Here are a few examples:
The dormitory is very hot right now. We have evaporative cooling which isn't effective when it's humid, and I'm back in a corner where the air doesn't circulate very well. Several of the fellows work in the kitchen and have access to ice so they bring ice to me each evening so I can have cold drinks.
Another of the fellows noticed that my mattress was flat and uncomfortable so while I was in the classroom teaching, he went to another part of the yard and somehow managed to get a much better, thicker mattress and brought it here, put it on my bed, and then made up my bed so it would be a complete surprise to me when I returned. And he carried that heavy mattress over here in the heat of the day (112 degrees).
In these difficult times, we may yet come to see our challenges as our greatest blessings. Our lessons cannot be learned if the sun is shining every day. And on rainy days, we can share our umbrella with another.
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