Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.
09/01/2021
Life can be Heaven
Life can be hell
A mixture of the seeds you sow
And the cards life gives you
It takes some next level
Misfortune and mismanagement
To find the sort of pain and misery
That you can only find
In the jails of the world
Even the soft jails
Are no picnic
So it takes next level
Hard work and resilience
To undo the horror
To set yourself free
From the revolving door
Of re-offending, parole breaches and drug addiction
A lengthy stretch
Say 6 years
For a necessary deed
Can make or break you
And even end your life
If you don’t stay vigilant
So if you ever find yourself thinking
‘Is this the real thing? Is this just fantasy?”
Pray you have what it takes
To get free better than you were
To never acquiesce
To the temptations that destroy
And like they all say and I’ve said before
“Suffer now and live the rest of your life like a champion”
—
Once you’ve been to jail for anything more than a few months it becomes a full time job for some just trying to stay out. The problem is partly that drug use and violence are so rife in most jails that some inmates who have never even touched drugs before get out with a habit.
When I first got locked up a psych told me that a lot of convicts actually prefer life in jail to the outside. It blew my mind but after 6 years I understand it. If I had stayed any longer I might have been the same.
It’s a common saying in jail and a lot of inmates have the poster on the wall of Muhammad Ali with the quote “Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion”. Wise words indeed.
You are doing very well. The future looks bright.
Joanna
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Thanks Jo for the kind words, everyday is a little better than the last. I hope things are going well for you too:)
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Thank you for sharing your experiences and perspective. A very wise message and interesting poem, Christo. You are proving that it’s worth the effort! All the best! ❤
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