A religious service or meeting of one denomination or another was held in jail every day. I guess it's not surprising that many inmates "Find God." Amazing what one does when afraid. Public expressions of contrition and regret for the crimes committed were common, especially if it helped your cause - and your cause could be anything from pleasing the priest or fitting in with a group of inmates to getting a pad of paper and a pen. Contrition could help your case too - especially if you were sentenced to participate in a drug or alcohol program. This new found piety often came in the form of regular service attendance, obnoxious Bible-thumping and a completely unrecognizable personality change. Sinners to saints. It happened all the time.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
― Winston Churchill
My cellmate was a fine example of piety gone mad. Every morning she would walk around the day room for a good hour, Bible in hand, reciting scriptures and clinging to her rosary. She looked like a mad woman with her wild and crazy hair. "C" espoused the Bible at any chance she could to anyone who would listen. She and I agreed, for the sake of harmony in the home, to disagree and the subject of Jesus was off limits. She'd occasionally slip in questions like "Are you mad at God?" just to try and get a rise out of me. C told me that she worked for the Archdiocese of Las Vegas, where she lived as a secretary to a parish Priest. True? I don't know. What is true is that she went to every service available and convinced each denomination that she was a devout Christian, Jew, Muslim, whatever just to get the free stuff they handed out, mostly the food. Real food. Bloody ingenious!
"Not knowing when the dawn will come I open every door."
― Emily Dickinson
C shared too. I also got to eat what she brought back to the cell and I now know the difference between Halal and Haram food preparation laid down by the laws of the Quran.
“The ends you serve that are selfish will take you no further than yourself but the ends you serve that are for all, in common, will take you into eternity.”
― Marcus Garvey
What ticked me off about the whole thing was that C hated everyone. Oh, she was nice to your face but as soon as you were out of earshot venom came out of her mouth about you. She was a mean, vindictive soul with little to no self-analytical skills. She certainly had none of the God-like qualities that she claimed to live by. C could chew your ear off with monologues which contained words like salvation, goodness, mercy and redemption. I don't know about all that, but she did have one Biblical quote down pat:
"Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
― John 6:35
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
― Winston Churchill
My cellmate was a fine example of piety gone mad. Every morning she would walk around the day room for a good hour, Bible in hand, reciting scriptures and clinging to her rosary. She looked like a mad woman with her wild and crazy hair. "C" espoused the Bible at any chance she could to anyone who would listen. She and I agreed, for the sake of harmony in the home, to disagree and the subject of Jesus was off limits. She'd occasionally slip in questions like "Are you mad at God?" just to try and get a rise out of me. C told me that she worked for the Archdiocese of Las Vegas, where she lived as a secretary to a parish Priest. True? I don't know. What is true is that she went to every service available and convinced each denomination that she was a devout Christian, Jew, Muslim, whatever just to get the free stuff they handed out, mostly the food. Real food. Bloody ingenious!
"Not knowing when the dawn will come I open every door."
― Emily Dickinson
C shared too. I also got to eat what she brought back to the cell and I now know the difference between Halal and Haram food preparation laid down by the laws of the Quran.
“The ends you serve that are selfish will take you no further than yourself but the ends you serve that are for all, in common, will take you into eternity.”
― Marcus Garvey
What ticked me off about the whole thing was that C hated everyone. Oh, she was nice to your face but as soon as you were out of earshot venom came out of her mouth about you. She was a mean, vindictive soul with little to no self-analytical skills. She certainly had none of the God-like qualities that she claimed to live by. C could chew your ear off with monologues which contained words like salvation, goodness, mercy and redemption. I don't know about all that, but she did have one Biblical quote down pat:
"Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
― John 6:35
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