Nineteenth Visit to Taft

Today is Memorial Day, a holiday where most of us are at the beach or pool and barbequeing hamburgers and hotdogs. Taft plans something for their men to honor our service men and women. I can't remember whether Ron said they would have corn dogs or barbequed chicken as a special treat. They try to make it festive but it's just another day.

Last week I said that Ron's new favorite phrase is "if it doesn't kill you it'll make you stronger". His experience at Taft will definitely not kill him, so he should come out strong. I believe he will, both physically and mentally. His health has improved dramatically since he arrived there in early January. He has lost 15 pounds, his diabetes is under control and the arthritis in his hands is no longer a problem. I believe that this experience may in fact add months, if not years to Ron's life. There's really no way to quantify how much it will prolong his life, but the physical outcome of being there is definitely positive.

The food. If it doesn't kill you it'll make you stronger. If he ate the food it might kill him, it's that bad. So he buys peanut butter and jelly from the commissary and has a sandwich for dinner several nights a week. His bunkie makes nachos once a week, and the rest of the time he struggles with what they offer. He eats bananas and apples everyday, one of the few fresh fruits available.

Mentally, Ron knows now how much a man can stand. He says we can all tolerate much more than we think. He's talking about things like isolation, abuse and loneliness. He refers often to the book by Viktor Frankl called Man's Search for Meaning that he read when he first arrived. I read it too, as I wanted to find out what he found so moving. This book was about the Holocaust, but there was alot in the book that the inmates at Taft could relate to. It's recommended reading by all how come to Taft. (recommended by the inmates, not the institution.)

Where do we get our strength from? Many get it from religion, although that has never been the case for Ron. However, he has joined the Jewish community at Taft and finds that he gathers strength from being part of that small community. He attends services on Friday nights and aggravates the Rabbi with his philosophy of religion. He enjoys the comraderie of the men and really looks forward to Friday night. I think we also gather strength from hope. Where there's hope, there's a future. Ron has great hope for his future. That's because he knows when his sentence will end. Many of the men at Taft have long sentences, and they really don't know what their future holds. Will their wife and children stick by them? Will they have a job and place to live when they get out? All of these questions are answered for Ron, and it just gives him strength knowing he has a future when he returns.

No, Taft will not kill him, it will make him stronger. From the inside out Ron knows that he can deal with anything life throws his way. He always has, he always will. His experience at Taft just confirmed that.