Portland Observer December 20, 1979 Page 5
Behind the Wall
by L a rry Baker »35021
O.S.P. Correspondent
D avid C raw ford »39830
Assistani Correspondent
THE TOWER OFCHRISTMAS
hidden behind a shield, that under
A lowly guard tower, smaller than
stands.
this cell, is a peculiar solace. Officers
O f course, there are those men and
sit there all day, day in and day out,
women who don’ t allow for moments
soaking up summer’ s sun and winter's
o f weakness. They shun the thought,
rain, sleet and snow. It is consoling
refusing to deal with it, hiding under
because the inen and women are there
the premises o f piety and the privilege
by choice, their choice. W ith arsenal at
o f rank. They worry tne. They really
hand, they stare down at the cells wat
do! A man not kn o w in g his own
ching cons drink hot coffee, listen to
strength is innocently dangerous. Men
stereos, and gripe when the newspaper
not knowing the strength o f their own
is late-all the luxuries imposed upon
weaknessess are the most dangerous,
us against our will. In addition to the
spur-of-the-inoinents threats. Inside
mundane misery o f tower duty, a job
the walls, among ourselves, we deal
few w o u ld trade fo r th e ir prison
with those weaknesses again. Some are
release, there is the distress o f wat
camouflaged with rhetoric, others are
ching the ornam ents o f Christinas
contained by lengthy, self-imposed
spring up around them, out o f our
ce ll-tim e , and, in the ya rd , these
sight, out o f their reach. Whereas we
weaknesses are reinforced with bulging
need only wonder if children still go
sinews.
door to door caroling, if Santas still
In the popular mind our institution
ring bells on the streetcorner. and if
has been labeled by these weaknesses.
families still gather at the tree-markets-
But defined, an institution is a pattern
-huddled together in warm coats to
o f behavior, or habit, in the form or
pick out Christmas trees--the tower
mores, folkways, and laws that have
guard lives with their re a lity-o r takes
clustered around p a rtic u la r human
part. They hear all the little voices
functions, durable because members
filled with giggling spirit. They might
o f each generation face the same
d ro p a piece o f silver in S anta’ s
problems m aintaining ties w ith the
bucket. And, worst o f all, they must
past and future through their parents
smell the sap o f Iresh-cul firs, shield
and children. Institutions, in which
their eyes from the brightness o f tinsel
jails and mental hospitals are included,
and blinking lights, and taste the egg
are abstract concepts o f organized
nog, ham, and pumpkin pie.
habits and standarized ways o f doing
You m ig h t ask why C hristinas
things given form by the behavior ol
m ight touch them fro m this lo fty
individuals; however, institutions give
tower. It tnay not. But as much as
form to the behavior o f individuals
some would hate to admit, they put
also. But few people want to take
their pants on one leg at a time, per
responsibility for the public hostility
form the same daily functions we do,
toward our institution this Christmas.
and, most important, especially with a
The man who complains the most o f
cannon at their side, they had better
ten does the least to rectify the object
have good vision and a re liable
o f his disdain. We read o f him in the
amount o f judgm ent. W o rkin g the
newspapers and hear him on the radio
west wall, they must see the convict
and see him in the courtroom laun
gazing out the window at the visitor’ s
ching into a tirade for the benefit o f
parking lot, and if an innocent little
defendants, spectators, and honorable
boy waving to his daddy staring down
justices. But like the queen in the play
from the fifth tier cannot touch a soft
w ith in the play H am let, he “ doth
part in their heart, I wonder. I f a con
protest too much, me thinks,”
v ic t’ s young daughter cries in the
Macbeth, in the first act o f another
parking lot as she leaves her daddy,
Shakespeare tragedy, said something
emotion only a heart can muster will
that haunts me like a persistent ditty
fill the void in the most calloused
stuck in the mind and hummed over
j,guard’ s chest.
Their candidacy for sainthood may ■ “ and over again until nothing less than
a s w ift slap in the face can make
be d o u b tfu l, th e ir halos tin g e d -
a lth o u g h somewhat b rig h te r than
rescue.
o u rs -a n d
th e ir
c re d ib ility
...W hy do I yield to that suggestion
unquestioned, but I wonder it im
Whose horrid image doth unfix my
munity and priviledge negate visions
hair
,o f their sons and daughters in that
And make my seated heart knock at
parking lot waving at their dad s cell
my ribs,
and asking mom why daddies go to
Against the use o f nature? Present
prison for driving and drinking beer.
fears
Could it be they can remember long
Are less than horrible imaginings:
ago when, with temper out o f control,
M y thoughts, whose murder is yet fan
they held another man by the nape o f
tastical,
the neck, prepared to do great harm
Shakes so my single state o f man that
or, i f prowess was lacking, snatched
function
up arms to defend the territorial im
is smothered in surmise, and nothing is
perative inherent to every liv in g
Bat what is not.
creature. U nfortunately, any one o f
Macbeth, who thinks o f himself as
these actions is grounds fo r in
strong,
is re a lly weak; he is the
ca rce ra tio n, a p p lica b le to a ll o f
p risoner
of
his
im a g in a tio n .
society. W ith this in mind, knowing
Shakespeare said so well "nothing is
they, too, under the slighest variance
but what is not.” I ear o f strength is
o f circumstance, might also be looking
really terror in the sight o f weakness;
up to a tower, wondering if Christinas
sorrow at wondering if Christmas will
was still scheduled w ithout them, I
go as planned is really the lament ot
,
ik ' a n lac e in their heart.
knowing it w ill; our tear ol possibly
never getting out o f here is really a leai
o f not knowing what to do i f “ they'
ever decide to let us go. I he reality ot
tw enty-year parole dates gives the
security o f know ing social security
checks will pay for our next Christmas
as free men, but fear pervades that
twenty-first-century security. We have
nightmares ol lunar modules circling
the moon’ s surface spraying colors on
the white terrain creating portraits ol
science-fiction reindeer to be viewed by
the people on earth, and, our incomes
being fixed, having to wear blindfolds
because we could neither pay for I he
view or the pill people take to create
Christmas.
But Shakespeare was not the first to
shine a dun light on the idiosyncracies
o f human nature that the convict
fears. The ancient legends typify past
and present fears— fears that have
plagued society since time began, l or
instance, a Cyprian King, Pygmalion,
so loved the ivory statue he sculptured
that he adorned it with jewels, clothed
it in fine silks, and treated it as he
would have treated the fairest maiden«
He loved it so much he asked the gods
to give it life , and they did .
Sociologists have coined the term
“ selffulfilling prophesy" to exemplify
occurances sim ilar to the legend o f
P ygm alion that occur today. File
placebo e ffe c t' fo r instance, occurs-
when an ailing person believes he has
been given a miracle drug and makes a
miraculous recovery, never knowing
he is the victim o f modern medicine
and a p ill containing only sugar or
powdered milk. Back in 1929 people
believing the banks could no longer
remain solvent withdrew millions of
dollars in savings. This panic was a
major factor in facilitating the collapse
o f the nation’ s economic system and
was nothing more than an exaggerated
belief, powerful enough to cause the
very disaster they leared.
The s e lf-fu lfillin g prophesy is at
work in our state’ s institutions. The
public, all too often, wants to believe
that convicts are sub-hum an non
persons. The p u b lic sees no
justification tor the desiie ot convicts
to want a Christmas at home with their
fam ilies, and an explanation why-
people teel such a desire is regarded as
a foolish dream circum venting the
purpose o f our being here A walk in
the park, a moment to touch a real tree
or see a puppy and children and home
are all privileges we gave up when we
came to prison and, furthermore, so
the public thinks, we must have a lot
o f nerve even to th in k about such
common things. I he public grumbles
at knowing there is a miniature goll
course outside a prison window a
luxury certainly not earned. Maybe it’ s
our ju st desert to peer out at the
scoreboard painted on the big wall and
dream about the real baseball games in
Candlestick park with the teal Giants,
Reds and Pirates. The lock cin-up-
and-throw away-thc key citizen sees
no reason for our anger when, in the
chowhall on ( hristmas day, we bite in
to a cold turkey. " I hey ought to teed
them beans,” is the popular comment.
Well, if the beans aie hot, you have a
deal!
O ur constitution fo rb id s the
punishment o f a criminal's lamily lor
his acts, yet as we watch out families
come in, see the pain in their laces,
hear o f the inequities imposed upon
them by members ot society blaming
them for our conduct, and we are pun
ished again. We envision shriveled
bigots churning their leet from their
comfortable solas, shaking clenched
lists up and down, and, with an evil
grin on then faces, telling us it s only
hall ot what we deserve. And they
locked us up for lack o f respect lor hu
man life. I he hostility ol the outside
world affects not just our lives, but the
lives ot all people who realize their
own weaknesses and understand al
though they do not condone the
deeds we are convicted of. One day I
asked why why are we resonsible lor
those problems while confined within
the im penetrable walls ol prison.
Using the dialectics o f opposition, a
little bit o f hindsight, and th inking
about the self fulfilling prophesy, the
reason came to me.
Crime is society’ s worst tear, and
December, the tiin e o l (. hristmas spun
and brotherly love, is the tune ot year
society faces the highest crime rate.
I he Oregon Ci line Statistics manual
shows a graph depicting the sharp rise
o f crime dunng the holiday season and
goes on to itemize the frequency ol
each index crime, the totals lor each
month, and the yearly totals. In 1977
there were a total ol 295,997 crimes
committed in the state o f Oregon and
almost eleven million crimes reported
hundred men incarcerated in the Salem
jienitentiary. If every one o f these men
were released for a year anda commit
ted three crimes apiece in the state of
Oregon only, the total crimes (by 1977
standards) would be a little more than
TOO,(MM), a barely detectable increase.
But few o f the convicts here are native
Oregonians and would hardly confine
their business merely to the state o f
Oregon. On a national level the total
crimes w ould equal .045% o l the
total—a difference the most efficient
statistician would have d ifficu lty de
tecting. Yet with the odds or statistics
being as slim as they are, the Correc
tions Division must bear the brunt ot
the responsibility for the crime rate,
and the only things they have control
over capable o f affecting the crime
rate are locked behind solid walls. And
those are the foolish ones— the ones
that got caught. Do the intelligent
criminals roam free, mixing with that
same society unable to understand why
we have the nerve to even dream about
(. hristmas with our families? Citizens
say that we are the cause o f their fear,
the reason they cannot walk the
streets, and that parole should be
taboo, the key should be thrown away.
This attitude is malignant revenge per
meating society— a s e lf-fu lfillin g
prophesy, a placebo to tranquilize the
vindictiveness. It is mere sugar con
tained in a capsule curing ills when pa
role dates stretch into the twenty-first
century, and a P ygm alion's statue
brought to life because people believe
prison has become a revolving door
where murderers walk out in seven
years.
This is not a plea for pity. The plea
is for understanding that we, too, put
our pants on one leg at a time, we have
hearts that feel emotion, and that we
can look out our windows and see
people with the same qualities driving
through the streets on their way to the
homes o f loved ones when we can t
and know why.
I wondered why Pygmalion created
the perfect semblance o f a beautiful
maiden and chose to fall in love with
the statue, just as I wonder why society
has created prisons and fallen in love
with the fantasy that convicts should
be held strictly accountablea for life’ s
d iffic u ltie s .
The
answer
to
P yg m a lio n ’ s lust bears a s trik in g
resemblance to our own social patterns.
Pygmalion detested the practices o f
Ins own people. Marriage was then, as
it is now, a common desire, just as
society’ s need for a scapegoat for their
own difficulties is a strong desire. But
in Pygmalion’s time, before a woman
was allowed to marry she had to per-
i , ,, in , m in rituals I hev were obi iced
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//< / f / / / / -i / / /
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by custom to prostitute themselves to
strangers at the sanctuary ol the god
dess Aphrodite or Astarte. I his was
not an o rgy o f lust but a solemn
religious duty performed in the service
o f the great Mother Goddess o f West
ern Asia. The wages earned b\ tins
sanctified harlotry were dedicated to
the goddess. Some women wailed lor
years outside the temple to relinquish
th e ir bodies to the embraces o l a
stranger. It is believed that the custom
was initiated by King Cinyras, an«’
practiced by his daughters, the sisters ’
o f Adonis, who, having incurred th.
wrath o f Aphrodite, the goddess o
beauty and love, mated with strangers
for the rest o f their lives.
I cannot blame Pygmalion lo i his •
stern refusal to marry a prostitute and 5
sculpting a statue o f purity to later '?•
marry and bear him sons. Nor can I *
blame society for sculpting the imag.
they have o f conv icts. Who can bear to
face his o r her own h a rlo try?
However, inefficiency and the inability s
to exercise vested authority has made
the remedy only a dream, and immoral •
practices have nourished. Il took the ,
charisma and strength ot Constantine
to abolish this custom. He destroyed
the temples and built churches in theit
stead. U nfortunately, he must have
been a simple man, fo r b u ild in g a
church takes so much more work than
simply sculpting a statue and praying
to a god asking life for a creation Bui,
then again, Constantine was a real
man, Pygmalion is a legend a tan
tasy created in the m inds o f teal'
people. A fantasy created lor what,
though? I ’ m almost afraid to guess
Could it be fo r expedience’ Would
men and women stoop so low?
I must be a simpler matter today
Not enough people have sat in that
guard tower day after day lo r eight
hour shifts w ith nothing to do but
fumble a bullet in their shirt pocket
and th in k—think about anything but
the problems o f everyday life. I hev
have not pondered the power ol mass
m inds to create or aggravate an
already existing situation. Nor have
they seen the effects o f incarceration
on an inmate’ s fa m ily— people who
did not com m it a crim e but are
destined to suffer a Christmas without
an im portant component. Innocent
children come home crying every night
because Johnny’ s daddy forbade Inm
to associate with the children ol a con
victed felon—a shame he had no voice
in but w ill have to bear the rest o f his
life. And just who w ill play with those
children? Only the children o f the lew
hum a n ita ria n s who know their
S
n r // (/ n r /
1518 NE KILUNGSWORTH
PORTLAND OREGON 972 11
EXODUS
284 7997
M
DECEMBER
iRtniMGS
FROM EXODUS
Remember that in order to fu lly enjoy
this holiday season your m ind must be
clear so that you will know in what man
ner you are presenting yourself to others,
and in what manner you are receiving
others.
Excessive use o f alcohol and drugs dis
torts your ability to consistently present
yourself to others respectfully, and to re
ceive others respectfully in the true spirit
o f this joyous holiday season.
It is resp ect that is fundam ental to
peace on earth and good will to all hu
man beings.