Protocol and Tradition

Hotep,

Prison life can be like running on a treadmill; you’re moving fast, but not moving forward.  Life on the row is more like waiting at a bus stop for transportation that has been detoured without your knowledge. 

How long is patience?  Some may be slow to take the initiative of walking toward their destination.  Maybe the traditional means of getting there is more suitable for them.

Negativity hovers the Unit 3 concrete enclosure the way a bus stop awning veils potential passengers.  Standing still beneath either of the two requires some degree of patience.  Standing still can fester the frustration of not knowing, and lead to the passengers rumbling their displeasures to any and all who choose to stand still alongside them.  

Within their expressions of unrest and dissatisfaction, there lies contempt for the passenger making the cognitive transformation to proceed in the direction of where he/she desires to go – without the use of the traditional assistance of getting there.

For years I have been corralled by the antipathy spawned by passengers choosing to manipulate penitentiary protocols – imposing their will on those complacent with waiting on progress, rather than making it.  

The protocol which sanctions panucronium bromide to violate the veins of humans, seems to be less of a priority when the abhorrent sights are set on the few who chose to trust their inner navigational systems to get where they need to be.

“I remember using every ounce of my strength to try to move.  The surgery went on for hours.  It was worse than death.” This was the testimony of Carol Weihrer, who underwent eye surgery in 1998.  

Panucronium bromide was administered to immobilize the eye, at the same time as anesthesia.  The anesthesia was less than effective.  “It was terrifying and torturous.  I could not communicate that I was awake.”

Ironically enough, the description Carol gives of her medical procedure mimics a state sanctioned execution protocol.  The tradition of capital punishment in America, has employed the services of panucronium bromide since 1977.  

In 2001, it became a crime for veterinarians in Tennessee to administer this same drug, to euthanize pets.  This ongoing ritual of capital punishment feeds the hate dwelling within our society, and also perpetuates a protocol for human torment, when it is considered to be inhumane for animals.  How humane is that?

I find complacency with timeless patience to be self-effacing when your life is the ultimate price.  I choose to break tradition and proceed without regrets.  I am moving toward a new tradition that is conducive to the psyche of the death row prisoner.  

Standing still will not defend you from death; it simplifies the task of bringing it to fruition.  The W2TM chronicles are the protocol for breaking this tradition.  Word is bond!

“Traditions are not sent from heaven, they are not sent from God.  It is we who make cultures and we have the right to change it, and we should change it.”

Malala Yousafzai
Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

Still Livin,'

MannofSat

Copyright © 2014 by Leroy Elwood Mann