Need to smell you
I was listening to Terry Gross interview Brittany Barnett “who works on behalf of people serving harsh prison sentences as a result of the war on drugs. Nine of her clients have been granted clemency. Her new memoir is A Knock at Midnight. (Fresh Air, December 9, 2020. Book available on Amazon or local public library.)
She clearly articulates the cruel waste of human potential and the abject suffering which has and continues to result from the commitment in the United States to punishing those who are ill with addiction, mental illness; often a lack of ability to consider the needs of others. Ms. Barrett, an attorney, daughter and even former high school girlfriend of a drug dealer, discusses growing up with the addiction and the incarceration of her mother while also living among many others who lives were kidnapped by addiction; a life cycle which validated the hopelessness which was and is branded on people from an early age. I encourage readers to read her memoir.
At an age when many businesses are failing, the so call judicial system which includes a very profitable (for many) prison system is flourishing. From contracts for metal everything, food supplies, personnel, and weapons to offices for police and prosecutors to legalized profiteering for use of communication with family, many amass a great deal of wealth and, thus, have a vested interest in ensuring the system stays intact. Yet, ironically, it is you and I who pay for this system which we know does not work. There are certainty those such as Ms. Barrett’ mother who thrive in spite of the system and not because of it. There are also children directly affected by the system who use their scars to keep in close contact with their own humanity and to help others
Many scientists can now explain why humans do not learn from living with chronic stress. In fact, neuroscientists such as Robert Sapolsky can detail the parts of the brain which are adversely affected by chronic stress including that caused by being mistreated. He explains clearly how damage to various parts of the brain and other organs affect the ability to exercise what is commonly referred to as free will.
When we are separated from parts of ourselves we are separated from each other. When we are separated from each other we are separated from ourselves. We need to experience a sense of connection/community which is our heritage. When Ms. Barrett, as a child, visited her mother in prison with a glass shield separating them she was acutely aware of not being able to touch her mother and not being able to smell her. The smell of our parents, especially our birth mother I suspect, is associated with our earliest experience of connection and being nurtured. When a mother is unable, for whatever reason, to provide that experience, there is, I suspect, a profound loss of ability to connect with others. When it is experienced and then taken away, as it was with Ms. Barrett, one might close down or use that experience to work on behalf of other mothers and children who are separated,
It is ironic to me that at a time when we are so polarized in this and other countries we are being visited by a virus, a primary symptom of which can be the loss of a sense of smell. Smell is essential to many animals, including we humans, for alerting one to who and what is safe. At a time when we have lost connection with each other we are unable to smell each other.
Spiritually this loss of the ability of smell is both a metaphor for the larger issues and a fact – although temporary if one survives covid-19. Not only does convid-19 often affect one’s ability to smell but one must also keep one’s mouth and nose coved in public, practice social distance and, thus, avoid the scent of each other. As we move toward a vaccine we must identify and remove the economic, political, social and spiritual barriers we have erected to separate us from each other We must smell the scent which tell us we are home, and we must smell the scent which tells us we have created a world in which fear of each other is often the norm. Labeling and incarcerating those with an illness and those whose brain damage has rendered them unable to make choices based on what benefits the greater good is itself a symptom of the loss of our ability to smell each other; to smell the scent which says, “welcome home”.
Written December 11, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett, LPC, AADC
coachpickett, org
I was listening to Terry Gross interview Brittany Barnett “who works on behalf of people serving harsh prison sentences as a result of the war on drugs. Nine of her clients have been granted clemency. Her new memoir is A Knock at Midnight. (Fresh Air, December 9, 2020. Book available on Amazon or local public library.)
She clearly articulates the cruel waste of human potential and the abject suffering which has and continues to result from the commitment in the United States to punishing those who are ill with addiction, mental illness; often a lack of ability to consider the needs of others. Ms. Barrett, an attorney, daughter and even former high school girlfriend of a drug dealer, discusses growing up with the addiction and the incarceration of her mother while also living among many others who lives were kidnapped by addiction; a life cycle which validated the hopelessness which was and is branded on people from an early age. I encourage readers to read her memoir.
At an age when many businesses are failing, the so call judicial system which includes a very profitable (for many) prison system is flourishing. From contracts for metal everything, food supplies, personnel, and weapons to offices for police and prosecutors to legalized profiteering for use of communication with family, many amass a great deal of wealth and, thus, have a vested interest in ensuring the system stays intact. Yet, ironically, it is you and I who pay for this system which we know does not work. There are certainty those such as Ms. Barrett’ mother who thrive in spite of the system and not because of it. There are also children directly affected by the system who use their scars to keep in close contact with their own humanity and to help others
Many scientists can now explain why humans do not learn from living with chronic stress. In fact, neuroscientists such as Robert Sapolsky can detail the parts of the brain which are adversely affected by chronic stress including that caused by being mistreated. He explains clearly how damage to various parts of the brain and other organs affect the ability to exercise what is commonly referred to as free will.
When we are separated from parts of ourselves we are separated from each other. When we are separated from each other we are separated from ourselves. We need to experience a sense of connection/community which is our heritage. When Ms. Barrett, as a child, visited her mother in prison with a glass shield separating them she was acutely aware of not being able to touch her mother and not being able to smell her. The smell of our parents, especially our birth mother I suspect, is associated with our earliest experience of connection and being nurtured. When a mother is unable, for whatever reason, to provide that experience, there is, I suspect, a profound loss of ability to connect with others. When it is experienced and then taken away, as it was with Ms. Barrett, one might close down or use that experience to work on behalf of other mothers and children who are separated,
It is ironic to me that at a time when we are so polarized in this and other countries we are being visited by a virus, a primary symptom of which can be the loss of a sense of smell. Smell is essential to many animals, including we humans, for alerting one to who and what is safe. At a time when we have lost connection with each other we are unable to smell each other.
Spiritually this loss of the ability of smell is both a metaphor for the larger issues and a fact – although temporary if one survives covid-19. Not only does convid-19 often affect one’s ability to smell but one must also keep one’s mouth and nose coved in public, practice social distance and, thus, avoid the scent of each other. As we move toward a vaccine we must identify and remove the economic, political, social and spiritual barriers we have erected to separate us from each other We must smell the scent which tell us we are home, and we must smell the scent which tells us we have created a world in which fear of each other is often the norm. Labeling and incarcerating those with an illness and those whose brain damage has rendered them unable to make choices based on what benefits the greater good is itself a symptom of the loss of our ability to smell each other; to smell the scent which says, “welcome home”.
Written December 11, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett, LPC, AADC
coachpickett, org
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