9 May 2011
Dear Anne,
"As you gain control of your mind, with the help of your higher self, then your mind and ego become your allies. but the uncontrolled mind behaves as an enemy." Bhagavad Gita 6.6
"Yea, that I walk through the valley of death I shall fear no evil," quotes Gian, my celly in Solitary Housing Unit (SHU) Zeta Beta 14 House. He's reading the USA Today that arrived for him this afternoon in the mail. "I feel so badly for the Mississippi Tennessee and Louisiana. I want to go and help with my body." He's a formidable figure even as a sixty year old. With meat cleaver hands and an ox-like head, it was easy to imagine him as the star high school lineman. He spoke of the incident that marked this character for life.
In the locker room one day the bully football players were passing around a box of juice, keep away from the trainer. when it dropped to the ground they shrugged and went to the practice field. The coach came out huffing a few minutes later "Who did that?" Gian saw nobody making a move so he stepped up to take the heat. "I did, Coach," he said. "You're off the team!!"
Gian learned a year and a half later that the seniors had met to decide his fate. The playoffs were just about to begin. "We won't kick 'em off. Just bench him a game to punish him and teach him a lesson," they agreed. The team lost the opening playoff game, however, and Gian only learned the verdict after a year when a friend coughed it up. Henceforth, Gian disowned his friend. "Sure he didn't mind hanging out at my house and using my things but he kept the secret a year before telling me truthfully what happened."
To this day Gian tests his friends. That explains why he is in SHU, for putting money on the books for two buddies "just to see what they'd do with it." But really, because they have been forgotten by their people on the outside. Anne, my celly is a living St. Nick!
Chris
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