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A "hardened criminal,"..."a hardened
person,"...is being "hardened" good or bad?
...I guess it depends on each individuals
perception of the matter at hand.
As I ponder the nature of this
prison / death row environment, as I
ponder my own conduct herein, it is
clear to me that "hardening" is
subjective according to each
person's ability to encounter / endure
whatever their circumstance may be.
With regard to the "hardened criminal,"
much of society has labelled
anyone coming out of prison a "hardened
criminal"...in my opinion this is
no more than another of many myths
that plagues this world already...
if a person allows prison to harden
him / her, he /she would have
hardened anyway. The big question
is if or no being "hardened," is negative
or positive.
Speaking for myself, as a Black man,
I find it hard for anyone to make sense,
to me, in / by insinuating that "history"
fails / failed to harden Blacks in,
at least, some degree, only to have
a little prison time succeed in
making him or her "hardened."
Yes, there are those who get mad at
the world and becomes filled with
hate and anger; but this can happen
just about anywhere; by anyone
whose emotions have escalated to a
point where, to them, it seems right /
rational to act upon such hate / anger.
Even then, in my opinion, that
individual is not a "hardened criminal",
as much as a "hardened person,"-
a victim of the true "hardened criminal,"
"Society as a whole" is the true
"hardened criminal."
In my opinion, it was society, as a
whole, that created the very instability/
place we now refer to as "world of
confusion and trouble"...
Society, in this instance, the United
States of America, was founded on
crime and deception - worse than anything
labelled "crime" in / by
today's standards - as those with greed
took advantage ofthe humble, only
to afterwards, lay down spur of the
moment constitutions and statutes
so as to protect / keep what they had
taken by means of murder / mayhem.
It seems clear that it was then that
myths and facts were introduced
as means to deny reality as it was,
in "America," and, then, create a
false / superficial principal that
appeals to the greedy and self centred
individuals to such an extent that
far too many of them would be wiling to
at least, pretend not to know or understand
the true nature of the
"founding fathers," of the United States,
and how / that their actions,
back then, are still felt, as in this
day and age, more and more people
accept how this country was obtained
/ started - more and more people are
living "The American Way," which is,
and has been from the start, a genuine
protocol of "crime" itself.
Such false creations (myths etc) were
formed long before the first 20
slaves arrived to this place we now
call the "United States of America,"
long before Blacks were being used
as the excuses / blame for the high
level of crime in this country.
These days its just on a wider scale,
and more effective.
The USA should be the last place on
earth to claim / assume someone has
hardened, in a negative way, on the
mere basis that he or she has been in
"prison". ...Its bullshit !!!
'97
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