Emerging Courageous online Magazine -
Stories
Prisoner
Cheri Lee Funk
©
2000-2002
Sitting on the beautiful beach surrounded
by dark blue skies with wispy
clouds floating by, I can still see the moon as
I look to the sky. The
shrimp boats are making their passes back and
forth in front of the beach.
There are children playing in the waves and
birds flying overhead. All of a
sudden I hear a loud noise. It is not a
noise that is associated with the
beach. Not the sounds of the gentle
waves or the laughter of children
playing in the water and
sand.
No, it is the sound of a machine and a big
machine at that.I turn to
see what is creating that noise, I see a backhoe,
heck I see two backhoes
about a 1/2 mile down the beach. I also see 12
figures dressed in green
pants and white t-shirts and orange vests. And
walking along with them, but
not too close is a man dressed entirely in navy
blue with a shot
gun and another gun on his waist. As they draw closer
to where I am
sitting, I see writing on the front and back of their
vests. INMATE in big,
black letters. Wow, that is a real dose of
reality right under my nose!
As they make their way
down the beach, 12 men, 1 guard and 2 backhoes,
I see what they are
doing. They are picking up trash and debris that is
lying on the
beach. It has been 1 year almost to the day since Hurricane
Floyd tore
through this tiny beach community and we are still trying to
recover. Still
trying to restore Oak Island to its once pristine beauty.
This little group
moving slowly down the beach, these men have done
something illegal.
They have been locked-up and their only outing to the
beach is trash patrol
with an armed guard. As I watch them, I think of how
awful it would be
to be locked away day after day. To not be able to hop in
my car and
drive to the beach. To not be able to sit here and smell the
fresh
scent of the ocean. To dig my toes into the warm sand and feel
the
gritty texture. To not see the dolphins skim through the rolling
waves.
To not hear the sounds of the rolling waves and laughing
children. To not
be Free!!
I am then
struck by a very powerful thought. I AM FREE!! I am free to
dowhatever
I chose to do and to think and to do it whenever I want to!! I
am free
to think what I want....to be what I want....to say what I want!!
My,
my!! Now, that is a truly liberating thought. It is also
something
that most people take for granted.
As I watch these men, I
realize that I too, have been a prisoner. Even
though there has not
been a man dressed in navy blue carrying a gun and
watching me, I have been a
prisoner. But unlike these men, I didn't need
someone to stand over me
with a gun and guard me. I learned the lesson so
well and knew the
boundaries placed upon me and my life that I didn't need
a guard anymore...I
became the guard.
BUT....all that changed
today! Today I realized what was happening!
and I would do something
about it...I had the Power!! The power to say, Yes
or NO, stay or go,
drive or walk, listen or talk. And I suddenly knew the
meaning of
Freedom. I had always equated "Freedom" with Janis Joplin
singing,
"Freedom is another word for nothing left to lose." But when I
heard
that song, it always made me feel hopeless, not truly Free. But today,
I
stood up....I took off my imaginary orange vest with "prisoner" across
the
front and back and I threw it away. Because, Freedom no
longer
meant I have nothing to lose, it means I have everything to
gain!!