Go Ride a Bus

My procrastination on a recent trip back to see the family in Saint Louis, MO forced me to spend $240 on a bus ticket ($80 more than the plane ticket I found the week before but didn’t purchase - Curses!).  And I’ll tell you what, I couldn’t have guessed at the amazing amount of perspective that I would gain from the trip.

Getting on the bus earlier than usual, I finally landed a spot window seat and an empty seat.  Hoping that I would get to keep both seats for myself, I looked up at a heavily tattooted individual with slight reluctance as he asked if he could sit down in the empty seat.  After making a little small talk, and with some (hopefully) gentle exploratory questions, it turns out that he was on his way from Indiana to Spokane.  He said that he was excited to be heading for a new place after getting stuck in Indiana for “a little while”.  A little while turned out to mean 25 years in federal prison.  He had entered the system in 1982 and was 4 days out after serving his full 25 year sentence for robbery and forgery.  He was 23 when he went in and now, on day 4 as a citizen, he was a young 48.  Keep in mind, that besides the tattoos and the pony tale, he spoke softly and thoughtfully.  After talking for a couple of hours, he mentioned that it was more than he had conversed with anybody in 10 years!!

I was astounded.  Here was a person who had, for all intents and purposes, just been born.  The world we take for granted day in and day out effectively didn’t exist in 1982.  Yes, I’m speaking hyperbolically but think about it!  No Internet, No CDs/VCRs/DVD/Blue-ray players, No Hybrid cars, the entire retail system (except for sears) is different, No franchises, No Coffee Shops, the Cold War was still in effect (Communists not terrorists were the fashion) and on and on, .  I was three when he went inside!!

It was fascinating to watch him look around as we drove down I-70, wide-eyed.  And it begs the question, what would the 1982 version of you think of the world we live in today.  What’s better?  What’s worse?  It’s not actually that much time in the sense that anyone reading this was most likely alive in ‘82.  But think about what people were hoping for in 1982.  Think about what we hope for today.

I can tell that this post is all over the place and not very focused, but it’s because the sheer amount of change in national and world thought in that period is staggering.  I don’t even know what my point of writing this is except to say that after talking with him, I was amazed by his level of patience and gratitude.  He wasn’t bitter, he wasn’t looking to get revenge for the time taken from him by the guys who (allegedly) testified against him.  He was just excited to get back out on a motorcycle and explore the country that has been just out of reach over two 40 foot razor wire fences for the last two and a half decades.

The Soapbox I do want to hop up on is that in those 25 years, there were exactly zero rehabilitation programs offered to him in federal prision.  That means no jobs skills, no GED program, no college courses, no Vo-Tec training, no internet or computer access.  This man came out the other side, in my opinion, remarkably well adjusted, certainly more patient and ready to take life one day at a time.  But what a waste.  And what the fuck do the wardens expect people to do when they’re done serving time like that?  ChannelBV and the NYTimes spent some time ruminating on these questions recently but I’m unaware of concrete action for change in our federal penal system.

He spent most of it corresponding with friends found @ PrisonPenPals.com and reading popular fiction like Koontz and Hillerman.  Can you imagine?

I gave him the address to this blog and so I hope that after he takes a few courses at his local library, he can hop on here and know that meeting him was a profoundly moving experience for me that threw the idiocy of my current career malaise and housing issues into sharp relief.

Thank you sir for reminding me to be “… Grateful for the good already received, and thus be fitted to receive more.”  I’m going to try and remember to keep looking at the world through new eyes like you are.  It is a gift.