Saturday, November 29, 2008

No snowflake in an avalanche

The other day I was sitting in my government supplied kennel, minding my own business and wondering what I could do about my current problem of getting the Home Office to see reason and to act in a decent manner, not just toward myself but to the many, many prisoners who, for whatever reason, find themselves unable to gain any form of progress.

At that point I was visited by a fellow prisoner, con, inmate - a rose by any other name is still a rose. In he came, and he carried a letter in his grubby fist.

"Ere, Frank, will yer read this for me?"

I took the letter and discovered that it was from the fellow's solicitor. Apparently the solicitor in question had represented the fellow through his court appearance and appeal process and the case was now finished. The solicitor had written to simply point these facts out and to inform the fellow that the legal process had now been completed and the solicitor no longer represented the fellow. The case was done, defunct, kaput, over, finito finished; it was in fact a dead parrot.

"Yes," said I, handing back the letter, "Your solicitor is just telling you that the case is over, he no longer represents you."

"What does that mean?" asked the fellow.

"Well," said I, “It means that he has done all he can, but will store the papers in case you should ever want them. But as far as he is concerned the case is done."

"What does he mean by that?" I was asked.

That was when it occurred to me that the fellow could neither read nor write and when he had gone on his way after I had explained the situation to him, it set me to thinking. I am supposed to be a fairly intelligent cove, quite capable of expressing myself and understanding what is said to me. Yet, for over twenty-two years now I have been banging my head against a brick wall trying to get the faceless Powers That Be to see reason, and I am getting nowhere. What chance has the man who can neither read nor write? Who looks after that person's interests and well-being?

People are condemned because of ignorance and no other individual feels responsible. In the words of Stanislaw Jerzy Lec:

'No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.'

The Voice In The Wilderness