(smile) From all that I have heard about how you couldnt have a better cellie which is definitely true (plus anyone that can be straight with you about what being out is like recently, what to expect, his advice to you which will be priceless at this time, him being someone that will discuss/talk honestly about many aspects of being in vs being out, and about different things in life so that you CAN learn something from them -that alone is rare anyway among people and hard to find as is, regardless of environment) I think Will is an amazing person in so many different ways. I hope you learn alot from him and take his advice as Im sure he knows what to tell you to expect, your best move once you are free, what to waste time on and what not, etc. Im glad knowing that IN THERE you have someone cool and not rude that you can discuss future ideas with and even have your "debates" that you mentioned HAHA. Please listen to anything will can tell you about how much things have changed in 10-12 years out here. Truly do so. He knows. So tell will I said HELLO (smile) and that I send my thanks for tolerating the Burger King Mega Dumb Art (LOL) Even though he has to be confused by purposely messed up page full of bright colored McDonalds logos and random fairies and THE ACTUAL Burger King with his dress and ashtray incident portrayed (hahaha)among other misc add ins on bee mode artwork that you end up hanging up so he cant miss them. LOL a 2nd one is on its way now, be ready, less color/art but more "words" HA HA!
Together your comments are a rather entertaining social example of groupthink. There's always something more to learn here. <3
I may be stooping to your level with this comment but I'm amused by how you bring a mental picture of Statler and Waldorf (from the Muppet Show) to mind :)
Bravo, kimberlita. Well said. I do try to temper my comments to fit the situation, but it appears here I have riled some feathers. The difference between myself and my haters is that I typically don't comment on situations I have no knowledge of (either by research or by personal experience). Nicki, by her admission, appears to know little of this inmate. Again, thank you for your verbal support. Expressing oneself in a civil manner is sometimes a very difficult job but I'll keep trying.
Nicki, then you say "Interestingly, it is not Mr Clarke's demeanor and behaviors I am as concerned about changing, as your own."
What? Go save the lost. Our demeanor and behavior fits directly inline with what society deems as functioning citizens able to determine between right and wrong, moral an immoral. SAH isn't writing this post from a 6x9 animal cage. She still has empathy to help those criminals per her post. Who are YOU to be concerned abut changing people out here? I somehow think you are a catfish writing this blog from a women's prison yourself.... false.
You diss SAH, for bitterness - It would be hard for you to project your level of bitterness as well as what dead child would want to do do - feel. Personal growth for Clarke and ALL would be... GED, accepting the restricted environment he put himself in, using a part of his income to promote the lives of others in need - after all he is not working for it.... send 100 a month and mentor a youth. Not seek a women to love and kiss him. That is self centered ambitions. Much that physocapths do.
Nicki, I just have to comment here on a few things, my personal opinion as well as first hand knowledge, that you clearly don't have. As far as you being "a psychology and criminology student" (ha - excuse to cover the truth you can't admit out of shame, see people out here won't accept you if you simply say, I am writing this man, taken an interest) you said "It concerns me that if bloggers only receive negative comments, they will stop contributing here and I, and others, would lose their valuable contributions". Contribution to what? ALL they know is what is on TV. PERIOD.
Enlightenment? On WHAT? Commended for what?
What is their valuable contribution, Clarke for example? He contributes exactly what to the expansion of your mind, and learning? Do you know that most all he says about the abuse there is false?? Heighten security? Is because he attempted to escape - his "wife" is in prison now, the endless things he has done to violate the rules there..... as well as this blog. Did you know they are not allowed to solicit money and pen pals, yet he slyly continues to use this blog venue as a direct measure to meet his personal needs. Valuable contribution? Grade school thoughts, art, waste of tax payer money, lies. Do you think these men made a vaulable contribution to society or can? ha.
These people are lost, have been and will remain so, there is a reason society has cast them away, for the safety of the contributing citizens.
Their only hope is God and.... instead they seek pen pals, money,. scamming women. You say he may never had any kindness, how little you know about this particular inmate, or how life really revolves for caged animals. You made a miserable comment here for his mother to read. Shame on you.
“Public debate in the United Nations is dominated by the same differences among the parties as international political life as a whole. But behind closed doors these differences are diluted. The human factor carries more weight there, and confidential exchanges are possible even across frontiers which otherwise appear impassable.” – From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld to the Students Association in Copenhagen, 2 May 1959 (Falkman 2005, p. 136).
“Sometimes one gets the impression that the Congo operation is looked at as being in the hands of the Secretary-General, as somehow distinct from the United Nations. No: this is your operation, gentlemen.” – From statement by Dag Hammarskjöld in front of the General Assembly, 26 September 1960 (Falkman 2005, p. 82).
“By resigning, I would, therefore, at the present difficult and dangerous juncture throw the Organization to the winds. I have no right to do so because I have a responsibility to all those Member States for which the Organization is of decisive importance, a responsibility which overrides all other considerations.
It is not the Soviet Union or, indeed, any other big powers who need the United Nations for their protection; it is all the others. In this sense the Organization is first of all their Organization, and I deeply believe in the wisdom with which they will be able to use it and guide it. I shall remain in my post during the term of my office as a servant of the Organization in the interests of all those other nations, as long as they wish me to do so.
In this context the representative of the Soviet Union spoke of courage. It is very easy to resign; it is not so easy to stay on. It is very easy to bow to the wish of a big power. It is another matter to resist. As is well known to all members of this Assembly, I have done so before on many occasions and in many directions. If it is the wish of those nations who see in the Organization their best protection in the present world, I shall now do so again.” – From statement by Dag Hammarskjöld in the General Assembly in response to the Soviet Union’s accusations that he was biased and did not have the courage to resign, 3 October 1960 (Falkman 2005, p. 86).
References
Falkman, K. (2005). To speak for the world: Speeches and Statements by Dag Hammarskjöld. Stockholm: Atlantis.
“The very rules of the game, and the specific position of the Secretariat inside the system, force the Secretariat in its activities as representative of the Organization as a whole to apply what is now often called quiet diplomacy. […] In the General Assembly, as well as in the Councils, open debate is the rule. […] They have introduced a new instrument of negotiation, that of conference diplomacy. This instrument has many advantages. […] But it has, also, weaknesses. There is the temptation to play to the gallery at the expense of solid construction. And there is the risk that positions once taken publicly become frozen, making a compromise more difficult.” – From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld at the University of California, Berkeley, 25 June 1955 (Falkman 2005, pp. 131–132).
“Chou En-Lai stands out as the most superior brain I have found in the field of foreign policy”. – From a private letter by Dag Hammarskjöld, 1955 (Falkman 2005, pp. 43–44).
“The principles of [the Charter of the United Nations] are, by far, greater than the Organization in which they are embodied, and the aims which they are to safeguard are holier than the policies of any single nation or people.” – Statement by Dag Hammarskjöld in the General Assembly, 31 October 1956 (Falkman 2005, p. 28).
“True collective security, in the sense of an international police power engaged to defend the peace of the world, is to be found at the end, not at the beginning, of the effort to create and use world institutions that are effective in the service of the common interest.” – From a speech by Dag Hammarskjöld, 1956 (Falkman 2005, p. 35).
“We should, rather, recognize the United Nations for what it is – an admittedly imperfect but indispensable instrument of nations working for a peace evolution towards a more just and secure world order.” – Dag Hammarskjöld’s words from the introduction to the UN annual report 1956/1957 (Falkman 2005, p. 69).
“[…] United Nations itself as an experiment in international organization. […] The United Nations is something definite also in the sense that the concepts and ideals it represents, like the needs it tries to meet, will remain an ineluctable element of the world picture.” – From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld in front of the American Jewish Committee, 10 April 1957 (Falkman 2005, pp. 68–69).
“It is easy to turn the responsibility over to others or, perhaps, to seek explanations in some kind of laws of history. It is less easy to look for the reasons within ourselves or in a field where we, all of us, carry major responsibility. However, such a search is necessary, because finally it is only within ourselves and in such fields that we can hope, by our own actions, to make a valid contribution to a turn of the trend of events.” – From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld at the University of Cambridge, 5 June 1958 (Falkman 2005, p. 193).
Quotes by Hammarskjöld from: http://www.daghammarskjold.se/quotes/
Part 1 of 3
“In my new official capacity the private man should disappear and the international public servant take his place.” – From a statement by Dag Hammarskjöld in front of the press when he arrived in New York, 9 April 1953 (Falkman 2005, p. 63).
“For some people the driving force in life is faith in the success of their efforts. For others it is simply a sense of duty. We need both types of men.” – From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld at the University of California, Berkeley, 13 May 1954 (Falkman 2005, p. 208).
“Too often our learning, our knowledge, and our mastery are too much concentrated on techniques and we forget about man himself.” – From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld at Amherst College, 13 June 1954 (Falkman 2005, p. 207).
“Modern art teaches us to see by forcing us to use our senses, our intellect and our sensibility to follow it on its road of exploration.” – From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, 19 October 1954 (Falkman 2005, p. 220).
“A mature man is his own judge. In the end, his only form of support is being faithful to his own convictions. The advice of others may be welcome and valuable, but it does not free him from responsibility. Therefore, he may become very lonely.” – From Dag Hammarskjöld’s inaugural address at the Swedish Academy, 20 December 1954 (Falkman 2005, p. 203).
“From generations of soldiers and government officials on my father’s side I inherited a belief that no life was more satisfactory than one of selfless service to your country – or humanity.” – From the radio speech “This I Believe” by Dag Hammarskjöld, 1954 (Falkman 2005, p. 58).
“The concept of loyalty is distorted when it is understood to mean blind acceptance. It is correctly interpreted when it is assumed to cover honest criticism.” – From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld at the Johns Hopkins University, 14 June 1955 (Falkman 2005, pp. 199–200).
I was going to just copy and paste an article about Tong Phuoc Phuc here, but I'm unsure of the copyright status, so I'll just try to summarize.
Here are some links, maybe useful in the future: http://www.unmaskingchoice.ca/blog/2012/05/18/tong-phuoc-phuc-father-vietnam http://eyedrd.org/2012/06/tong-phuoc-phuc-a-man-with-a-golden-heart-has-taken-care-of-more-than-100-abandoned-babies.html
Tong Phuoc Phuc, of Vietnam, was struck with the number of abortions that appeared to happen just during the time of his own wife's delivery in the hospital. "I was wondering, where are the babies?" he said, watching women enter the delivery room and return alone. 'Then I realized they had abortions.'
Because his wife had a difficult delivery, he made a promise with God that if his wife survived, he would find some way to help. At first, he simply bought a piece of land where he could give each fetus a proper burial. He would pick up the remains from hospitals and abortion clinics. He has buried over 10,000 such fetuses.
Women who had gone through an abortion themselves, heard of this small cemetery and came there to pray. Soon, women who were only considering abortions came to him, and he welcomed them into his own home.
He has been adopting unwanted children and from the counts I have seen, has adopted 19 as his own, giving them his own surname, but he has helped over 100, his goal being to reunite the babies with their mothers if possible.
He was not a rich man by any means, being a construction worker, and his wife running a small stall (I'm assuming in the market). From the video I've seen, it's a pretty cramped little apartment, full of babies. Sometimes he has had to borrow money to pay for food. But people have helped him, and donations have come from as far away as the US.
"No matter how good I am, it would not be as good as real mother’s love. So every time a mother came back, I would be very glad," he said.
When I first saw the video, I was awestruck. This is an example that has stayed with me, and points to a better way, in my opinion, of handling the abortion issue.
RSS
I may be stooping to your level with this comment but I'm amused by how you bring a mental picture of Statler and Waldorf (from the Muppet Show) to mind :)
What? Go save the lost. Our demeanor and behavior fits directly inline with what society deems as functioning citizens able to determine between right and wrong, moral an immoral. SAH isn't writing this post from a 6x9 animal cage. She still has empathy to help those criminals per her post. Who are YOU to be concerned abut changing people out here? I somehow think you are a catfish writing this blog from a women's prison yourself.... false.
Personal growth for Clarke and ALL would be... GED, accepting the restricted environment he put himself in, using a part of his income to promote the lives of others in need - after all he is not working for it.... send 100 a month and mentor a youth. Not seek a women to love and kiss him. That is self centered ambitions. Much that physocapths do.
Enlightenment? On WHAT? Commended for what?
What is their valuable contribution, Clarke for example? He contributes exactly what to the expansion of your mind, and learning? Do you know that most all he says about the abuse there is false?? Heighten security? Is because he attempted to escape - his "wife" is in prison now, the endless things he has done to violate the rules there..... as well as this blog. Did you know they are not allowed to solicit money and pen pals, yet he slyly continues to use this blog venue as a direct measure to meet his personal needs. Valuable contribution? Grade school thoughts, art, waste of tax payer money, lies. Do you think these men made a vaulable contribution to society or can? ha.
These people are lost, have been and will remain so, there is a reason society has cast them away, for the safety of the contributing citizens.
Their only hope is God and.... instead they seek pen pals, money,. scamming women. You say he may never had any kindness, how little you know about this particular inmate, or how life really revolves for caged animals. You made a miserable comment here for his mother to read. Shame on you.
“Public debate in the United Nations is dominated by the same differences among the parties as international political life as a whole. But behind closed doors these differences are diluted. The human factor carries more weight there, and confidential exchanges are possible even across frontiers which otherwise appear impassable.”
– From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld to the Students Association in Copenhagen, 2 May 1959 (Falkman 2005, p. 136).
“Sometimes one gets the impression that the Congo operation is looked at as being in the hands of the Secretary-General, as somehow distinct from the United Nations. No: this is your operation, gentlemen.”
– From statement by Dag Hammarskjöld in front of the General Assembly, 26 September 1960 (Falkman 2005, p. 82).
“By resigning, I would, therefore, at the present difficult and dangerous juncture throw the Organization to the winds. I have no right to do so because I have a responsibility to all those Member States for which the Organization is of decisive importance, a responsibility which overrides all other considerations.
It is not the Soviet Union or, indeed, any other big powers who need the United Nations for their protection; it is all the others. In this sense the Organization is first of all their Organization, and I deeply believe in the wisdom with which they will be able to use it and guide it. I shall remain in my post during the term of my office as a servant of the Organization in the interests of all those other nations, as long as they wish me to do so.
In this context the representative of the Soviet Union spoke of courage. It is very easy to resign; it is not so easy to stay on. It is very easy to bow to the wish of a big power. It is another matter to resist. As is well known to all members of this Assembly, I have done so before on many occasions and in many directions. If it is the wish of those nations who see in the Organization their best protection in the present world, I shall now do so again.”
– From statement by Dag Hammarskjöld in the General Assembly in response to the Soviet Union’s accusations that he was biased and did not have the courage to resign, 3 October 1960 (Falkman 2005, p. 86).
References
Falkman, K. (2005). To speak for the world: Speeches and Statements by Dag Hammarskjöld. Stockholm: Atlantis.
“The very rules of the game, and the specific position of the Secretariat inside the system, force the Secretariat in its activities as representative of the Organization as a whole to apply what is now often called quiet diplomacy. […] In the General Assembly, as well as in the Councils, open debate is the rule. […] They have introduced a new instrument of negotiation, that of conference diplomacy. This instrument has many advantages. […] But it has, also, weaknesses. There is the temptation to play to the gallery at the expense of solid construction. And there is the risk that positions once taken publicly become frozen, making a compromise more difficult.”
– From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld at the University of California, Berkeley, 25 June 1955 (Falkman 2005, pp. 131–132).
“Chou En-Lai stands out as the most superior brain I have found in the field of foreign policy”.
– From a private letter by Dag Hammarskjöld, 1955 (Falkman 2005, pp. 43–44).
“The principles of [the Charter of the United Nations] are, by far, greater than the Organization in which they are embodied, and the aims which they are to safeguard are holier than the policies of any single nation or people.”
– Statement by Dag Hammarskjöld in the General Assembly, 31 October 1956 (Falkman 2005, p. 28).
“True collective security, in the sense of an international police power engaged to defend the peace of the world, is to be found at the end, not at the beginning, of the effort to create and use world institutions that are effective in the service of the common interest.”
– From a speech by Dag Hammarskjöld, 1956 (Falkman 2005, p. 35).
“We should, rather, recognize the United Nations for what it is – an admittedly imperfect but indispensable instrument of nations working for a peace evolution towards a more just and secure world order.”
– Dag Hammarskjöld’s words from the introduction to the UN annual report 1956/1957 (Falkman 2005, p. 69).
“[…] United Nations itself as an experiment in international organization. […] The United Nations is something definite also in the sense that the concepts and ideals it represents, like the needs it tries to meet, will remain an ineluctable element of the world picture.”
– From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld in front of the American Jewish Committee, 10 April 1957 (Falkman 2005, pp. 68–69).
“It is easy to turn the responsibility over to others or, perhaps, to seek explanations in some kind of laws of history. It is less easy to look for the reasons within ourselves or in a field where we, all of us, carry major responsibility. However, such a search is necessary, because finally it is only within ourselves and in such fields that we can hope, by our own actions, to make a valid contribution to a turn of the trend of events.”
– From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld at the University of Cambridge, 5 June 1958 (Falkman 2005, p. 193).
Part 1 of 3
“In my new official capacity the private man should disappear and the international public servant take his place.”
– From a statement by Dag Hammarskjöld in front of the press when he arrived in New York, 9 April 1953 (Falkman 2005, p. 63).
“For some people the driving force in life is faith in the success of their efforts. For others it is simply a sense of duty. We need both types of men.”
– From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld at the University of California, Berkeley, 13 May 1954 (Falkman 2005, p. 208).
“Too often our learning, our knowledge, and our mastery are too much concentrated on techniques and we forget about man himself.”
– From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld at Amherst College, 13 June 1954 (Falkman 2005, p. 207).
“Modern art teaches us to see by forcing us to use our senses, our intellect and our sensibility to follow it on its road of exploration.”
– From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, 19 October 1954 (Falkman 2005, p. 220).
“A mature man is his own judge. In the end, his only form of support is being faithful to his own convictions. The advice of others may be welcome and valuable, but it does not free him from responsibility. Therefore, he may become very lonely.”
– From Dag Hammarskjöld’s inaugural address at the Swedish Academy, 20 December 1954 (Falkman 2005, p. 203).
“From generations of soldiers and government officials on my father’s side I inherited a belief that no life was more satisfactory than one of selfless service to your country – or humanity.”
– From the radio speech “This I Believe” by Dag Hammarskjöld, 1954 (Falkman 2005, p. 58).
“The concept of loyalty is distorted when it is understood to mean blind acceptance. It is correctly interpreted when it is assumed to cover honest criticism.”
– From speech by Dag Hammarskjöld at the Johns Hopkins University, 14 June 1955 (Falkman 2005, pp. 199–200).
Here are some links, maybe useful in the future:
http://www.unmaskingchoice.ca/blog/2012/05/18/tong-phuoc-phuc-father-vietnam
http://eyedrd.org/2012/06/tong-phuoc-phuc-a-man-with-a-golden-heart-has-taken-care-of-more-than-100-abandoned-babies.html
Tong Phuoc Phuc, of Vietnam, was struck with the number of abortions that appeared to happen just during the time of his own wife's delivery in the hospital. "I was wondering, where are the babies?" he said, watching women enter the delivery room and return alone. 'Then I realized they had abortions.'
Because his wife had a difficult delivery, he made a promise with God that if his wife survived, he would find some way to help. At first, he simply bought a piece of land where he could give each fetus a proper burial. He would pick up the remains from hospitals and abortion clinics. He has buried over 10,000 such fetuses.
Women who had gone through an abortion themselves, heard of this small cemetery and came there to pray. Soon, women who were only considering abortions came to him, and he welcomed them into his own home.
He has been adopting unwanted children and from the counts I have seen, has adopted 19 as his own, giving them his own surname, but he has helped over 100, his goal being to reunite the babies with their mothers if possible.
He was not a rich man by any means, being a construction worker, and his wife running a small stall (I'm assuming in the market). From the video I've seen, it's a pretty cramped little apartment, full of babies. Sometimes he has had to borrow money to pay for food. But people have helped him, and donations have come from as far away as the US.
"No matter how good I am, it would not be as good as real mother’s love. So every time a mother came back, I would be very glad," he said.
When I first saw the video, I was awestruck. This is an example that has stayed with me, and points to a better way, in my opinion, of handling the abortion issue.