I imagine this is an age like no other. In this time of technology and speed,there is almost an inbred need for instant gratification. Our high-speed internet, instant coffees and rat races to work are commonplace. We like our cars fast and our pizzas delivered in thirty minutes or less. People are absorbed into their tweets, instant messages and cell phones. Video chat replaces a fact-to-face meeting. The constant call for innovation and progress propels us forward. We become addicted to the new, and forget about the past. In a world of connectivity we are becoming increasingly more disconnected from each other. In this race of life, seldom does the regular man find time to slow down and find solace in simpler, slower things. We give voice to that knee-jerk reaction demanding more, and faster.

At least that is the way it seems sometimes.

I am no scholar nor regular man. I am one of those cast to the dregs of society, a prisoner locked away and largely ignored. Time moves differently in the penitentiary. You’re locked down, in more ways than one. “Prison time is a slow time,” the author of those words knows inscrutable truths. The guilt of my actions with the pressure of time, weight of need, and the finality of a sentence conspired to take my family, friends and love from me. Life outside these fences speeds on. Looking to the world from in here, I have a unique perspective. I observe like a ghost, watching, listening, yet unable to affect or change anything. Yet with this time I now have in abundance, I am afforded the pace so contrary to ordinary life. I look for a ground to which my strengths may find purchase.

And so I give my words form, and cast them beyond the reach of these fences in the hopes that they may grab hold of an idea. That even a man as I can effect some good even from in here. I speak up with the hope that I will be truly heard. That even my voice matters, and what few words I might marshal in my limited mastery will take hold of thought, shape and inspire, or maybe just bring to memory what so many seem to have forgotten.

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Image: elev8.com