My mantra every day when I wake is “be a better human today than I was yesterday”. I strive for that everyday, regardless of the mood I wake up in. This morning I woke with the same mantra and began getting ready for my weekly trip to commissary. For those of you who aren’t “prison savvy”, commissary is the day that inmates get to go to the “grocery” store. We are allotted a 90.00 a week spending limit to which we can purchase, clothing, hygiene items, and food. Essentially, it’s the prison’s Walmart, and just like Walmart, it’s extremely stressful. Which can challenge my mantra.
Well, as I have stated, I am in a wheelchair because my left leg is casted from the knee down and I am unable to put any weight one it. Well, said cast itches and sometimes it itches bad. So, when in prison you improvise; a plastic coat hanger will do the trick. I grabbed the plastic hanger and stuck it in the cast. Well, as you can probably envision, the hanger broke; inside the cast. Yes, inside the cast. So naturally I freak out. I have a chunk of plastic coat hanger stuck inside this already uncomfortable cast and its jabbing into my heel. I wheel out of my room and begin shouting for help. I was literally shouting. Nevermind that at this time of the morning there are only like six people in my unit because the others are at work, so all six women come running over to assist. After all, this is an emergency. Well, we tried four more hangers in which we all broke. We tried a plastic knife, a pen, a straw, and 4 different women’s hands. Nothing worked. Then, when out of the blue one friend screamed, Tara, A ruler!!!! So there we all were with this ruler desperately trying to get this out of my cast when, After many attempts, we got it out.
Team work is essential in prison just as much, if not more as the free world. Many of us when entering prison feel that we are alone and have to stay guarded, afraid to reach out for fear of so many things “you came alone, you leave alone”.We worry about our need for help being used against us at a later date or for leverage. Many inmates view needing help as a sign of weakness.
But today is just one example of how much we as humans rely on others in order to be successful. There was no way that I would have ever thought of using a ruler to assist me. So without her help, I would still be stuck with this dilemma. This experience also taught all of us that when we get together for a common goal, we can accomplish anything. During the remainder of my incarceration, I hope to be able to show these woman that rather than work against each other because of our “fears”, we can work together and do great things!
