12:01 PM
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Earlier this week I was reading about this yoga program being offered in the Morris County Jail ... the free yoga program offered in Morris County jail.
And it got me to thinking. Do you know who else would enjoy a free yoga program to, as the writer put it, "find their 'center,' to get to a place where they can think about their choices and be intentional about their future?" Me. How about you?
I have no idea where my center is and, frankly, I would like to find it and it would be great if I could find it for free. So I was a little aggravated at this news and not so much about the free yoga, though that was the jumping off point, but about being ... well yeah, it was the prisoners getting free yoga. I was a bit scared to say it, but now I have said it so, it's out there. But there is more.
I felt strongly enough about it to write (always happy to serve up the obvious here, friends) but felt I shouldn’t, because it might be too "political." And I think that was the true source of my aggravation. Remember when prisoners were bad? And when kids played games and one team lost and one team won? When God was in school? When children were left behind all the time because they got bad grades or just weren’t good enough to make the team? And none of that was political at all? It was just … life. But now I feel I can’t go on and on about people who break the law and go to prison who get free yoga instruction without sounding conservative or Republican or Tea Party-ish and that is what bums me out.
I would really just like to share with you why I feel I deserve some free yoga instruction and why I deserve it more than a prisoner does without anyone reading my words through red-white-and-blue colored glasses. My feelings are not political. They’re base and seeped in jealousy–but not political.
And now, I guess one could say I have gone on and on about it, so, well, I guess that’s it. Wonder how my editor would feel about 350 words this week?
Kidding aside, in the last week or so I almost walked into the men's room at work. I stopped at a "Stop" sign, went through the motion of looking both ways but did not actually commit to it as was proven when I proceeded and almost crashed into a very nice man who did not give me the finger or scream at me (thank you, kind sir). I called someone and when they answered I forgot why I called them. I also called the wrong "Nick" at work and told him a whole bunch of stuff he didn't need to know. I mailed a check and failed to include the check and I dreamed that all of the toilets in my house were replaced with commodes and every time someone used the bathroom I would have to clean them out.
This is called "life" and even in the best life there is work, stress, worry and distraction. And mine, or ours, are the lives of jugglers. Not fire or chainsaw jugglers or any marketable skill kind of juggler that could make us some coin in the park, we are mental jugglers. I can think of about 25 things at one time, I can be mad and happy at Jim for totally different reasons at the exact same time and I can do it to our son, too. I am the person who needs to find their center, not the person sitting in jail who is no longer a danger to society. I drive a big car, I operate a lawn mower, I have a child and pets in my care, I work for nine people in my office, who needs to find their center? I do, but can’t because of time and money.
If there were another day inside of a day, I would take yoga classes. But I am also afraid to make the financial commitment only to find out there are, in fact, not enough hours in the day to make it to those yoga classes. Because the only thing that would hurt me more than the peacock pose would be to spend the money and find I was unable to go for this reason or that. That would be a real downward facing dog pose.
So would it be wrong to suggest that, perhaps, the prisoners in search of their center just follow along with the yoga lady on TV every morning? And if they don't want to, um, maybe just, dare I say, make them? Is that unconstitutional? To make someone exercise and get fit? If it will help them to rehabilitate and become a better person? Because that is the reason, more or less, behind the free yoga program–or so the article says. And I guess if it is un-American, then call me "traitor" because I would kill for my own little dictator who made me exercise every day whether I wanted to or not–that is called being Jennifer Aniston in my book. And if prisoners were made to yoga along with the 5 a.m. yoga lady on TV, then perhaps the town or the state would not have to pay for the instructor? And maybe offer the free yoga to the contributing members of society whose center eludes them, whose focus is occasionally, um, blurry?
And there you have it: Yes, I would deprive a prisoner of free yoga instruction. There are a thousand different ways to exercise that cost nothing. Personally, I think if I was incarcerated for any length of time, I would jump rope myself to a body like Megan Fox, become fluent in at least five languages, I might even make up a language, become a plumber, an electrician and perhaps write a novel or two, but I hope to never be proven right or wrong on that one.
I don't think prisoners of any kind should be given anything the average citizen is not also given for free (besides food, medical care, education and shelter). I believe the only benefit to being a prisoner should be ... nothing. I absolutely believe in rehabilitation for criminals, but come on: A yoga instructor in our jail? When Pigs fly pose.
And it got me to thinking. Do you know who else would enjoy a free yoga program to, as the writer put it, "find their 'center,' to get to a place where they can think about their choices and be intentional about their future?" Me. How about you?
I have no idea where my center is and, frankly, I would like to find it and it would be great if I could find it for free. So I was a little aggravated at this news and not so much about the free yoga, though that was the jumping off point, but about being ... well yeah, it was the prisoners getting free yoga. I was a bit scared to say it, but now I have said it so, it's out there. But there is more.
I felt strongly enough about it to write (always happy to serve up the obvious here, friends) but felt I shouldn’t, because it might be too "political." And I think that was the true source of my aggravation. Remember when prisoners were bad? And when kids played games and one team lost and one team won? When God was in school? When children were left behind all the time because they got bad grades or just weren’t good enough to make the team? And none of that was political at all? It was just … life. But now I feel I can’t go on and on about people who break the law and go to prison who get free yoga instruction without sounding conservative or Republican or Tea Party-ish and that is what bums me out.
I would really just like to share with you why I feel I deserve some free yoga instruction and why I deserve it more than a prisoner does without anyone reading my words through red-white-and-blue colored glasses. My feelings are not political. They’re base and seeped in jealousy–but not political.
And now, I guess one could say I have gone on and on about it, so, well, I guess that’s it. Wonder how my editor would feel about 350 words this week?
Kidding aside, in the last week or so I almost walked into the men's room at work. I stopped at a "Stop" sign, went through the motion of looking both ways but did not actually commit to it as was proven when I proceeded and almost crashed into a very nice man who did not give me the finger or scream at me (thank you, kind sir). I called someone and when they answered I forgot why I called them. I also called the wrong "Nick" at work and told him a whole bunch of stuff he didn't need to know. I mailed a check and failed to include the check and I dreamed that all of the toilets in my house were replaced with commodes and every time someone used the bathroom I would have to clean them out.
This is called "life" and even in the best life there is work, stress, worry and distraction. And mine, or ours, are the lives of jugglers. Not fire or chainsaw jugglers or any marketable skill kind of juggler that could make us some coin in the park, we are mental jugglers. I can think of about 25 things at one time, I can be mad and happy at Jim for totally different reasons at the exact same time and I can do it to our son, too. I am the person who needs to find their center, not the person sitting in jail who is no longer a danger to society. I drive a big car, I operate a lawn mower, I have a child and pets in my care, I work for nine people in my office, who needs to find their center? I do, but can’t because of time and money.
If there were another day inside of a day, I would take yoga classes. But I am also afraid to make the financial commitment only to find out there are, in fact, not enough hours in the day to make it to those yoga classes. Because the only thing that would hurt me more than the peacock pose would be to spend the money and find I was unable to go for this reason or that. That would be a real downward facing dog pose.
So would it be wrong to suggest that, perhaps, the prisoners in search of their center just follow along with the yoga lady on TV every morning? And if they don't want to, um, maybe just, dare I say, make them? Is that unconstitutional? To make someone exercise and get fit? If it will help them to rehabilitate and become a better person? Because that is the reason, more or less, behind the free yoga program–or so the article says. And I guess if it is un-American, then call me "traitor" because I would kill for my own little dictator who made me exercise every day whether I wanted to or not–that is called being Jennifer Aniston in my book. And if prisoners were made to yoga along with the 5 a.m. yoga lady on TV, then perhaps the town or the state would not have to pay for the instructor? And maybe offer the free yoga to the contributing members of society whose center eludes them, whose focus is occasionally, um, blurry?
I don't think prisoners of any kind should be given anything the average citizen is not also given for free (besides food, medical care, education and shelter). I believe the only benefit to being a prisoner should be ... nothing. I absolutely believe in rehabilitation for criminals, but come on: A yoga instructor in our jail? When Pigs fly pose.
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