"Sean Riker: Bob Ross"
Years ago I'd had enough of this wretched life. The same routine everyday; Sleeping with 50-100 wakeups due to Supermax noise during the night, waking up to more noise, drinking luke warm coffee, eating breakfast made for a child portion-wise, listening to more noise, lunch, dinner, TV TV TV TV, go to bed and repeat. I woke up one morning, sitting on the edge of my bed listening to two guys argue in the vent about whether the 1989 Olds had one or two doors and I said to myself, Today is the day, I am going to kill myself. After breakfast I wrapped my bed sheet around my neck, tied it to the T-Bar on my door and let my weight cut off my circulation. Right when I felt myself losing consciousness, the prison programs dept started a DVD. I always left my TV channel on the Inst. Channel every morning and I had forgotten it was on as I hanged myself. I lifted up on the sheet-noose to see what it was... A video I'd never seen before. Bob Ross and The Joy of Painting. Never in my life had I ever heard of Bob Ross or seen a paint video for that matter. I sat there stretching my beck to alleviate the tension in the sheet-noose and I watched that first 20 minute DVD and then another one played, and another, and anopther, and I watched them all. In each DVD he kept saying, You too can paint... so I wrote to my Family and asked for some basic paint supplies... I have not tried to hang myself. I think about it daily, but I haven't done it since then. Now Art Galleries write to me and ask me for my works to show in their Art Shows. I don't know what my purpose is in life, but I do know that Bob Ross saved my wretched life. I looked him up and he died in 1995-ish. Even after death he still touched mine. Maybe my art will touch people after I am gone? IDK. Bob Ross saved my life; "We don't make mistakes. We Make Happy Accidents."