Date: 18 Jan 26
Subject:( "Serving Time " Jan. 19, 2026)

* SERVING TIME *

When a man is given a life sentence and sent to prison, one would naturally assume that he
has been rent of all authority and the ability to have any real control of the circumstances
aroudn him. However, there is one interesting aspect in life that he subconciously bridles, and
regulates to his own preferende: TIME. Unlike the other prisoners who have release dates, and
want time to fly by, a lifer is wanting time to go slow. Not so much because he enjoys prison life,
but simply because he has this issue against dying.
So what exactly is time anyway? Well, the last I heard, time is the indefinite continuation of the
progress of existence.
Okay, that seems simple enough. Nevertheless, it still never ceases to amaze me how time
has the ability to go slow for one individual, and fast for another at the SAME time. The only problem involved is when a lifer keeps trying to hold back the process of time. For instance, let's say you were to meet a prisoner who had been arrested when he was 30 years old, and had
spent 20 years in prison. upon asking him how old did he feel, I can almost promise you he
would give an answer somehwere between 31 and 35. It's as though he has mastered the science of controlling time.
Unfortunately, the occasion finally arrives when time is no longer willing to be held back. This
event is better known as: "When Time Catches Up With You."
In my studies regarding this subject, I have come to the conclusion that time doesn't choose a
particular age or event in our lives to which it decides to suddenly overtake us, and leave us
feeling like some old coot with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peal. Rather, it
slowly and nonchalantly begins to reveal itself in our common everyday affairs.
So let's take a look at a few examples -- from a prisoner's point of view -- of this realization of:
"You Know Time Is Catching Up With You When..."