NO SMOKING was a rule to be broken, and my first day on the job promised to be one I would remember for a very long time. It has been thirty-six years, and I still recall Doug, a long haired violent break and enter kind of guy, sitting in his self-satisfied sixteen year old body, confidently conniving and believing, that he could get away with smoking out in the open, in the lounge, without repercussions. I didn't see the cigarette, but where there is smoke, there is fire.
Doug was a savvy and experienced, expert instigator. At a very young age, Doug had managed to figure out how to agitate others, have them lose their cool, and somehow turn the tables, so that they would look like the crazy overreacting one. Dear reader, do you know anyone, have you interacted with someone, that pulls these tricks on you? In common verbiage, this is now labelled gaslighting; this type of trickster is a dangerous sort of malefactor, that gets their kicks and thrills from trying to convince others, that they are wrong, and must second guess what they have seen and heard. Evidence, to the deceiver, does not mean a thing, when an accusing finger points in their direction. The liar is convinced they can mentally manipulate observers, to the point of making them feel unbalanced, and perhaps, a little, or a lot, unhinged too.
Doug the thug, when I accused him of smoking, said, No I wasn't. I have to laugh now at the memory. I had absolutely no reason to accuse him of smoking, except for the fact that I saw smoke spiralling just above his head. In front of his open-custody house mates, he was all in for making a fool of me. There wasn't a cigarette in sight, and it was his word against my observations, and everyone in the room sat quietly to witness the outcome... To this day, I know I was right about seeing that smoke, but dear reader, I tell you, that this fella could bold face lie without batting an eye, and I did indeed, second guess whether or not I actually saw what I know I saw.
My point, or the moral of the story, is this: We, you and I, can be deceived, in this trickster gone mad society we live in. We can second guess and start to lose confidence in what we know is true and right, moral and righteous. We can become subject to the conniving of malefactors, and of a sudden, find ourselves shocked at what they have taken the liberty to steal or destroy, that once was ours to savour and enjoy.
Fast forward in time a little to another one of my shifts working with young offenders. Doug the thug had a cohort. During quiet hour, I went upstairs to do a head count, and to ensure the residents were in their own rooms. That is when I saw one of our tiniest offenders, stumbling out of the bathroom. He was wet and trembling, and I brought him down to the office to ask him what had happened. I learned that day, what deep six means: Doug the thug and his friend Dean the dreadful, had held this kids head down in a toilet until he sputtered and almost drown. The cruelty of this violation stands in stark contrast to how comfortably Doug & Dean were found, as they slept in their individual rooms, as though they hadn't done a thing wrong.
There are people in this world that are capable of culpable dastardly deeds, and they do not hesitate to lie, to assault, to insult, to steal, to kill. Do you believe this to be true, dear reader? Do you know a person that is cold-blooded and without conscience, willing and able to violate humanity?
I saw Doug many years after the time I spent working in custody. I was putting money in a meter, and he recognized me. His movements were spasmodic, and he was filthy from living in the streets. I was meeting a new friend for lunch and invited him to join us. Doug accepted, and then spent an inordinate amount of time in the restaurant washroom, trying to clean himself up. He eventually joined us at the table, smelling pleasant after the application of cologne. My gracious lunch companion did not turn up her nose at Doug, but people all around us, could not take their eyes off of this man that did not belong. Doug's body had been ravaged from years of smoking, drinking, and doing drugs, but his mind was still sharp.
We can go one way or another in this one life we live. Doug bore the weight of his lies and sins like an ugly filthy overcoat. The evidence of dirty living coated him in a guilty stench that no cologne could cover up. He carried his worldly possessions with him, and once we parted ways, he returned to the grime of street living, and I returned to my car, contemplating what would become of him.
Custody is for criminals. While the boys were doing their time, I felt like I was doing time too. My shifts were long and I used to count down how many hours were left before I could leave. I stopped wearing a watch a couple of years into the job, because I did not want to continue to wish the time away. Imagine, wishing for an eternity, that the clock would finally wind down, and you would be released from the torment, of being forever incarcerated in hell.
Jesus came to set the captives free, promising paradise to those that behold his glory and call him their God, their Saviour, their King and kinsman Redeemer. The price we pay for his company, is to sin no more, to give up lying and cheating and stealing and manipulating... to give up our lives of crime in favour of honouring the One that made us to glorify his name. I think this price, this entrance fee cost, is very low, don't you, dear reader? His grace gives us the strength to obey his will when we are tempted to sin, and this, is what the prideful, never comprehend, nor do they learn this lesson, because what they want is more appealing to them, then what God wants for them.
Are you like Doug the thug, or Dean the dreadful? Do you believe you have the right and that you are entitled, to take what is not yours, to physically assault someone that cannot defend themselves; to lie for the cheap and nasty thrill of making a fool of someone that you want to humiliate, and emotionally cripple? I sure hope this does not describe you, dear reader. I will ask you one more question before we go our separate ways for the day:
Does your pride prevent you from being a decent sort of human, to other human beings?
Doug and Dean were terrible people when I knew them, both of them very vain and concerned about their appearance, but not one bit interested in how hideous they were on the inside. These fellas got taken to closed custody the day they did what they did to the scrawny littlest guy in their midst. Open custody is like kindergarten but closed custody is an entirely different animal, as you can well imagine. If you haven't toured a jail, then you may want to, out of curiosity, visit one so that you can see how the other half lives.
Rewards and punishments are real and attached as consequences for the laws we heed and alternatively, the laws we break: the Judge made the laws, and the Judge rules and reigns over all of humanity, and righteously so.
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