Sunteți pe pagina 1din 1

THE END GAME.

Perhaps it takes sitting back and viewing the game from its beginning in many of our lives, to its end, to get a true perspective of it all. I know that in my case a view from behind the prison walls and the razor wire fences of maximum and medium security prisons has given me a perspective that I think may well have escaped me but for my present circumstances. I have witnessed the game and/or street life played at its height. I have been a witness to all that happens in between, just as I have am now witnessing the end game. I have watched those in their twenties and early thirties as they frolicked, danced and partied as their money and their honeys rolled in with no end in sight. I have also watched sadly as one by one their time to pay the piper came and state and federal prison doors closed behind them, in many cases to never open again. I have watched them here and other prisons, as they walked the compounds in near shock as the reality of their circumstances gradually began to dawn on them. Like victims of PTSD, (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) I have watched them as they attempt to grapple, often not successfully with the prospect of spending the next twenty five, thirty, forty years or life away from the friends and families. I have seen the countenance of defiance, as it descends into looks of defeat and resignation, as the reality of the "end game" begins to settle in. I have also watched those that are lucky enough to return to the streets after fifteen, twenty or thirty years, return to homeless shelters or their daughter's or sister's couches. I have watched as they return to what are now, strange cities and unfamiliar streets. Adrift in a new world, they find themselves both computer and technologically challenged, returning to a world where those they formerly called squares, are the one's now that may very well be their bosses or supervisors, if, they are fortunate enough to secure a job. Bereft of health insurance and any advance degrees, these are the ones that are threatened to fall between societies cracks. Having never worked a steady job, there is no 401k, social security benefits or annuities that have accrued over time. They have met the end game. With jails now being little more than human warehouses, most leave ill-prepared for life in the outside world. With no health insurance any hospital visit can be costly or even deadly. According to an article in the New York Times A study of hospital emergency rooms in Wisconsin found that victims of severe traffic accidents without health insurance got 20 percent less care. Hospitals spent $3,300 more on average for each victim who was insured. They kept the insured 9.2 days, on average, and the uninsured just 6.4 days. Unsurprisingly, the uninsured were 40 percent more likely to die from their injuries (New York Times, Wednesday, August 22, 2012. Rationing Health Care More Fairly. Eduardo Porter). This is the end game. This is the part of the game that never appears in rap videos or is the subject of serious discussion. Is it avoidable? Perhaps! For how it all ends depends on the choices one makes or neglects to make. I can say this without hesitation or equivocation, if one does not choose early and wisely, the probability of the scenario outlined here becomes more probable than not. Your brother, Akbar Pray

S-ar putea să vă placă și