Wednesday, January 19, 2011

ain't no reason

ok. so two things. seemingly unrelated. although, that's never really the case.
1. my roommate and i (oh, and her 10 year old son. also my roommate) have finally gotten cable. i mean, i've only been living here for like 4 months. whatever. this is what i have observed.

i don't know it's just because i am used to growing up in a household with the tv constantly blaring, but our house finally feels like a home. and it's the TV. seriously. i am baffled by this, but not really.

my childhood memories consist of many nights spent cozied around the television. background noise. bonding over completely made up story lines that have little to actually do with real life.

IT'S RIDICULOUS. i am so angry that i feel this way. but seriously, the tv has changed this household. and shit, not much can make this roommate of a 50 year old personal trainer and her primary-school aged child can make my life feel normal. but TELEVISION. that's what does it. i'm disgusted.

2. i had a pre-trial arraignment at the courthouse the other day. and as i was sitting, waiting to be rescheduled AGAIN, i watched as the county deputy moseyed in with two incarcerated people of kerr county. they were full on jumpsuit and shackled around the waist, behind the back; everything.

and i don't know if it's just me, but all i could think was HOW. SAD. how sad that our judicial system just sucks SO BAD. i mean, don't get me wrong. i understand that there are people in the world who do bad things. it is unsafe for them to just be wandering around the face of planet earth with the rest of us, perfect as we are, because of their actions.

brett dennen says it best; "prison walls still standing tall/some things never change at all/keep on building prisons gonna fill them all/keep on building bombs gonna drop them all."

it's SO TRUE. nothing is done with incarcerated people to ensure they stay out of jail. well, i shouldn't nothing. but not ENOUGH. not the RIGHT THINGS. people labeled as "at risk" or "criminal" are going to live up to those labels. there is a difference between helping people; changing people, and just keeping them from killing each other.

it sucks and i don't know how to change it.

there's only one way i know how to help this situation. working at the shelter for me, loving kids who, out of the womb have been labeled at risk because of the shitty shitty living situations they've been born into. ALL I CAN DO is be there for them now. while they're young. show them that there is another way. I PRAY TO GOD and whoever else is out there, whatever you call him or her or it, that's it's enough. for one person.

because one person is all it takes. one person can change the world.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." MLK

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