PONDERINGS FROM THE ETERNAL NOWMarch 2004 One of the things I’m beginning to understand is the “mentality of a soup line.” As we wait anywhere from 10 – 30 minutes to eat, sometimes in bitter winds, and people cut lines, I find myself getting angry. My mantra is to see the face of God in these women! The hopeful sign is the birds are singing! On February 22nd, I saw my first robin of the season. This past month I was given my first “breathalyzer.” This is randomly given to who-ever is in the right place at the wrong time. I wonder what this unnecessary cost is to tax-payers! While I’d like to think I’m kinder on the environment being in prison, this was not true this past month. The hot water heater temperature control broke and we ate on Styrofoam with plastic silverware at the cost of $600 a day for four weeks. There was a somewhat unorganized boycott of the vending machines as prices increased dramatically. For example, candy bars went from $ .55 to $ .85. While this doesn’t impact my life, it does impact the majority of women here. We are so overcrowded that sixty women are being asked to transfer to MCC in downtown Philadelphia to finish out their sentences. They will be much closer to home. Our job market (adult day care center) is so over-crowded that a new “center” was created – the Captain’s Crew. These women wear orange vests and do litter and yard maintenance, the same as landscaping. The Captain’s Crew Day Care Center is so popular that two shifts had to be created to meet the demand! During these Lenten Days I’m taking a four week Centering Prayer Course offered by Molly Bauer, S.S.J. and a six hour video class on the Jewish Kabala. The most hopeful news I’ve received is the meeting at the United Nations from April 26 – May 7, 2004. The governments of the world will gather to discuss the Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Treaties. A demonstration is planned in New York City for May 1st, 2004. For more information, go to www.1may04.org Also Jonah House has a web site that is posting our letters and other good information. Check it out and pass the word: www.jonahhouse.org. Lastly, the reflection I share is a poem from Tom Keene. It expresses my belief and gratitude for each of you!
Who Holds us Together?
A sacred tradition has it
That at all times and all ages There exists a minimum of ten souls, Scattered and unknown Even to one another, Who with their hungers and thirsts, Their prayers and deeds, Hold the world together, Ever gluing back our family shards, Redoing our undoings, our killings, Redeeming our failure To stand under one another. To know such a one is almost enough.
Yashir koach, |