By Robert Pruett 999411, aka Simple Man
 
Week 27 2006

July 9, 2006

Maybe it's because I'm only 26 years old, but the only Rolling Stones song that I really like is "Sympathy for the Devil." And I REALLY like this song for a number of reasons. The references to such historical facts as the slaughter of Tsar Nicholas II and his family during the Russian Revolution, the murder of one of the most peace-loving groups ever to walk the face of the earth, the Troubadours, by crusading christians, not to mention the other allusions to atrocities blamed on the "Devil," all make me like the song. Truth be told, the devil does get a bad rap. Let a christian tell it, the devil is the source of all evil. But didn't god create the devil, according to christian mythology? Ah, but they say he rebelled against the almighty and was cast out of heaven for trying to take over. Personally, I prefer the Persian version of the tale: God created the angels and told them to bow and worship no being except him. Then he created man and told the angels to bow to man, but Lucifer loved God so much that he couldn't bow to another being and refused; God subsequently kicked him out. Casts the dude in a different light, huh? Truth be told, neither one of these myths were initially intended to be interpreted literally, but that hasn't stopped the manipulative powers from doing so in order to exploit the masses. But, I digress. I quite like the devil, he doesn't seem like a bad dude to me. :-) Seriously, what would the world look like without "evil?" Imagine a world without any adversity, what would that be like? Well, one thing's for sure, it wouldn't be anything like our brains could fathom. For one, here on earth life NEEDS adversity and struggle to be strengthened and grow. Without that, life as we know it wouldn't exist. So yeah, be easy on the devil, we need the guy! :-)

Speaking of music, the song of the week has to be Breaking Benjamin's latest, "Diary of Jane." I absolutely love this band and they outdid themselves with this song! My favorite parts are when the dude screams "Nooooo" and "What have I become!" There's something about the primordial scream that just penetrates to the core of your being! Such raw emotion communicates more than words ever could. I'll bet that's how people communicated before language. Heck, now that I think of it, there are still tribes of people that use clicks and pops to communicate. That would be cool to learn with someone. "Hey, what's been up, Dude?"   "Click, pop, click, click, pop, click!"  Haha! Anyhow, check out the "Diary of Jane," it's awesome.

The craziest thing happened to me last week, I still can't believe it. My cousin, whom I haven't heard from in 11 years, wrote me a letter. She was just a little girl the last time I saw her, she couldn't have been older than 11, now she's all grown up. It's weird. What REALLY blew my mind was that she said she heard I was about to be released! Talk about misinformation!! If I see 30 it will be a miracle! People would claim it was the work of GOD! (Or the devil, it depends on who you ask! ;-) ) It was kinda tough writing her back and telling her the truth. Anyhow, for the longest I couldn't even stand to think about my family because they weren't supportive in any way during my darkest hour. In my eyes, most of them were dead. Don't get me wrong, I wished most of them well, but they weren't a part of my life anymore, so I moved on, closed that chapter of my life. But now I get a letter. I never expected this. To be fair, I can't blame the younger ones for negligence because they couldn't do anything for me back when I needed it. I don't blame anyone really, but especially not the young ones. I don't know what to think really. I don't expect anyone to want to become a part of my life, but I won't push any of the young ones away if they try. We'll see what happens.

Everything's pretty much the same as usual on this section. A couple of guys were moved and their cells are still empty, so it'll be interesting to see who lands in them. This is a quiet section for the most part, just how I like it. Personally, I've been missing a lot of recreation as of late. I didn't go out all last week! :-( No real excuse, but I have been writing a lot on chapter three, so I hang my hat on that. Nevertheless, I need to get my lazy ass out of this cell and start going to rec and exercising more often. I'll get back on track sooner or later.

Hahahaha! Whistling is infectious! Check it out, I just walked to the door and the pod is super quiet right now, you can hear dudes snoring! So I started whistling for maybe twenty seconds and walked back to my bunk to finish this up. No sooner did I sit down did I hear someone whistling! It works every time. It even happens to me. I'll hear someone whistle and, no matter my mood, I invariably blow a tune myself! Have we stumbled upon the cure for sorrow? Feeling sad? Whistle! Just lost your job? Try whistling! Did your girlfriend leave you for your brother? Hey, try that Andy Griffith (sp?) tune, it really works! :-) Alright, I'll stop!!


One Day at a Time,
Simple Man