January 24. 2012

Hello, World!

The nature of prison is tricky. It's designed to punish and deprive, and I will attest that it accomplishes the task. However, it can also surprise you with gifts, if one is willing to shape up, fly right, and be open to the possibilities.

My criminal acts sent me to prison. I forfeited friendships, a loving relationship, a career, a family, and the ability to be with my parents to share the good and bad times. The loss of these have been devastating. Then something happened. It occurred very slowly, like the growth of a mighty sequoia.

This Christmas, even though I was dealing with the worry of my father's stroke, I counted the cards sent and received. They totaled 30 and 24 respectively. That floored me. I certainly did not start out 25 years ago with that many. Through the years, acting as a friend should, I have gathered and kept them. And though my mother and sister have passed, acting as a son and brother should, we grew closer, appreciating each other as people, not simply the roles played. They, including my father, grew three-dimensional because the time we spent together, two to three visits each year, 15-minute phone conversations, and letters were all too brief, becoming too important to waste on idle chit-chat.

The unthought of possibilities are relationships bound through adversity, nurtured within the stress of endurance, and have become treasured gifts.

A question often asked among inmates is, "Wouldn't you like to go back in time and do things differently?" Well, that's a no-brainer. Who wouldn't want to go back to undo the pain one caused? However, I often wonder what would be lost in the undoing. I would do anything to erase the pain I caused, but I would neither want to change the man I've become nor lose the relationships that have developed. I cherish each so very much.

As I said, prison is tricky and, though I have worked diligently to alter my character, may I boldly say that God instilled within me the desire to change, provided role models, and rewarded me for each accomplishment.

I always feel so unworthy for these gifts, but I am forever grateful.

Thanks for checking in on me.

Cordially,
[signature]
George Barnes Watson
D-67547 C-14-104-U
PO Box 409060
Ione, CA 95640

Novel: A Thundering Wind
https://www.amazon.com/Thundering-Wind-Gregory-Barnes-Watson/dp/0615379443