Identity

​Identity
 
As a child, I got new information or reminders by:
 

• Listening to elders.
• Reading books from my grandmother’s library.
• Reading the bible.
• Occasionally reading books my parents may had read – mostly novels.
• Reading school assigned books.
• Reading school library books (limited in our regional country school library).
• Occasionally listening to the radio although lack of electricity made this rare.

 
This morning I got new information or reminders by:
 

• Reading daily spiritual reminders which arrived in my email box.
• Listening to a song a friend sent me a link to via text.
• Listening to NPR news via my iPhone.
• Listening to the latest Ear Hustle Podcast from San Quintin prison.
• Listening to a Ted talk by Bryan Stevenson entitled “We need to talk about an injustice”.
• Reading the local newspaper.
• Reading some in book entitled Mentor the Kid and the CEO by Tom Pace with Walter Jenkins
• Listening and watching video of two females talking about female friendships.  A friend shared this video via Facebook messenger.
• Reading community news as well as personal news from faraway places via email letters from friends.
• Listening to a news report of a father who voluntarily joined his son on the streets of Denver to experience what his addicted, homeless son was experiencing.

 
It is just after 10:00 a.m. in the morning.   Already my mind has been stimulated and influenced by a host of people who were able to visit me because of old and new technologies as well as the fact that I have a very privileged life.   I am not homeless.  I did not have to be at work at an early hour and then work all day for minimum or below minimum wage. I am not a refugee seeking asylum after an exhausting journey only to be treated like a criminal.  I am not so far today incapacitated by illness.  I have food in the refrigerator and the luxury of a car and money which will allow me to stop by the green grocer later this morning.
 
In short, I have no reason or excuses to limit my thinking or my behavior by ideas or “facts” I learned as a child or even yesterday.  I have no reason or excuses to limit my thinking or my behavior because I only have access to the views of one news source, one culture, one gender, one life experience.
 
The most recent Ear Hustle podcast from San Quintin Prison focused on exit interviews; interviews with those leaving San Quintin.  The program staff stresses that because of the identify of San Francisco Bay area where San Quentin is located there are many volunteers and a host of programs to stimulate the thinking of the inmates of San Quentin.   This seems to significantly reduce the recidivism rate for those who leave this prison.  Sadly, I could find so statistical evidence to prove or disprove this seeming correlation because of how prison statistics are maintained in California. I do know that the overall recidivism rate is California had decreased in the past few years. This decrease seems to correlate with an increased commitment to rehabilitation in the state – as opposed to punishment and warehousing.
 
Expanding our thinking by allowing new thoughts and information which is then shared and debated can shape one’s identity.  One is not limited to the identity one formed as a child or even yesterday.
 
Today I have a choice of what thoughts I will feed and what new thoughts I will entertain. Today I have the power to redefine my identity as a member of this human race.  I sincerely believe that we must teach our children how to access, sort/sift and play with new thoughts and ideas.  I sincerely believe I must attempt to experience the life experience of others. If this makes me a bit uncomfortable I am blessed with the first step of growing.
 
 
Written June 23, 2018