Aspects of Gratitude
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Gratitude is an attitude and there are aspects of it that I would not have realized if I had not come to prison. At least not in the same way. Although it may sound like an empty cliché to some and be disbelieved by others: I need to be here for the lessons I need to learn, and these lessons have nothing to do with what the state claims I did.
We are all in prisons. Mine just happens to have a fence and razor wire around it. Maybe yours is an office cubicle in a steel and glass monolith. Or a house purchased beyond your means and now worth less than its mortgage. Or an addiction to sugar, salt, steroids or sex.
My prison confines me physically but has freed me spiritually. Whereas in the “outside world” I tended to look out and about, I now look inward and upward.
What I now know that I did not know before is that the rent I pay to occupy space on this planet is the service I provide to my fellow beings—not just human beings but all beings, large and small, seen and unseen. I also know intuitively that there are no accidents in the universe and it is always in balance, even if I do not understand one iota of how it operates. Therefore, my unique gifts are needed right here, right now. It is rent that I am grateful to have the opportunity to pay.
By John Sanger. John’s prison job is tutoring other inmates to help them obtain their GED certification.
- Aspects of Gratitude - November 11, 2011
