Reflections

Wasted Honor -

Carl R. ToersBijns is the author of the Wasted Honor Trilogy [Wasted Honor I,II and Gorilla Justice] and his newest book From the Womb to the Tomb, the Tony Lester Story, which is a reflection of his life and his experiences as a correctional officer and a correctional administrator retiring with the rank of deputy warden in the New Mexico and Arizona correctional systems.

Carl also wrote a book on his combat experience in the Kindle book titled - Combat Medic - Men with destiny - A red cross of Valor -

Carl is considered by many a rogue expert in the field of prison security systems since leaving the profession. Carl has been involved in the design of many pilot programs related to mental health treatment, security threat groups, suicide prevention, and maximum custody operational plans including double bunking max inmates and enhancing security for staff. He invites you to read his books so you can understand and grasp the cultural and political implications and influences of these prisons. He deals with the emotions, the stress and anxiety as well as the realities faced working inside a prison. He deals with the occupational risks while elaborating on the psychological impact of both prison worker and prisoner.

His most recent book, Gorilla Justice, is an un-edited raw fictional version of realistic prison experiences and events through the eyes of an anecdotal translation of the inmate’s plight and suffering while enduring the harsh and toxic prison environment including solitary confinement.

Carl has been interviewed by numerous news stations and newspapers in Phoenix regarding the escape from the Kingman prison and other high profile media cases related to wrongful deaths and suicides inside prisons. His insights have been solicited by the ACLU, Amnesty International, and various other legal firms representing solitary confinement cases in California and Arizona. He is currently working on the STG Step Down program at Pelican Bay and has offered his own experience insights with the Center of Constitutional Rights lawyers and interns to establish a core program at the SHU units. He has personally corresponded and written with SHU prisoners to assess the living conditions and how it impacts their long term placement inside these type of units that are similar to those in Arizona Florence Eyman special management unit where Carl was a unit deputy warden for almost two years before his promotion to Deputy Warden of Operations in Safford and Eyman.

He is a strong advocate for the mentally ill and is a board member of David's Hope Inc. a non-profit advocacy group in Phoenix and also serves as a senior advisor for Law Enforcement Officers Advocates Council in Chino, California As a subject matter expert and corrections consultant, Carl has provided interviews and spoken on national and international radio talk shows e.g. BBC CBC Lou Show & TV shows as well as the Associated Press.

I use sarcasm, satire, parodies and other means to make you think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Reflections

Reflections of your Journey

By Carl R. ToersBijns

It has been often expressed that life can only be understood in two modes. The first mode is commonly referred to as a 20/20 hindsight concept and the second method is what we call looking backwards and understanding what and where we have been.

As flawed humans, we tend to see the worse in ourselves rather than the greater good we might have accomplished through time and meeting other people. It is commonplace for someone close to us to tell us what or where we really are or have been in life. This reality check if often appreciated and understood to be a viable link to those around us.

Reflections are often blessings of the past. Through this process we see vulnerabilities and weaknesses as we learn more about ourselves through the thoughts of others.

Never meant to discount your prior misfortunes or mistakes, you must consider the fact that to be human is to err and to err is to be human giving us the imitative to do better as we walk every step of our journey in life.

It is rare that reflections don’t bring regret or in some cases, repressed memories. Some memories from the past are sad one and some are realistically unforgettable. They can bring nightmares, torturous moments of misfortune or the loss of friends or lovers as time spares you from loneliness but never allows you completely free from the past.

Reflections can bring realization of plastic or artificial life as you get a chance to evaluate your existence within a most realistic moment in time. You can recall how you chose your friends or if you allowed them to choose you.

Never given the gift to be able to read crystal visions or interpret your hand like a palm reader’s definitions of your life lines on your hand, you must rely on mortal abilities to tell the difference between the past, the present and the future.

Agatha Christie once said “one of the saddest things in life is the things one remembers.”

It takes a certain ingenious faith in life and its journey to be able to read and understand the paving stones laid forth for you to travel. Even with moments of complete silence you can hear a distant echo of your mind as your memory reverberates your thoughts over and over until you drown out the noise and separate the good from the bad as you recover your historical years one moment at a time.

Moments are remembered how you where you were mad or glad, sad or happy and everything in between. Regardless of the overall or overcoming feelings, your can recall the sweet as well as the sour times of your life with accurate recollections and actively jot down in the tracks of your mind unwritten diary notes that will last forever.

Forever along with possibilities of passing them on to others as you share these precious moments in the tone and spirit that increases possibilities of happiness or sorrow as we suffer or endure our lives in retrospect in order to teach yourself or others to learn more about life as it is.

Reflections occur at any time your psyche starts to process your memory as words or sounds trigger your mind. They appear to work best when in a state of solitary meditation or in a solitary walk. It offers the greatest relief for the mind as it will indulge you to recover all those moments and indulge in nostalgic and sweet memories of life as it was before.

Ripping yourself away for an instant from reality, you must take the time to convince yourself that it was the solitude that offered you the reflection. To many, it is the ideal condition for reconciliation and peaceful feelings.

We know that the past cannot be changed and we would be foolish to do so as we can surely ask for forgiveness but never to forget. Opening the door to regrets solves nothing and upsets the equilibrium of life and the tranquility it has to offer when you focus on the right things in this journey.

Life is about friends and lovers. Life has no time where it stands still and does not allow you to do anything about the past.

The musical tune of life can be happy or sorrow but it can be clearly heard by those who understand the lyrics as they were written and expressed in a most expressive way.

Reflections will point out how people like us think different and how others might do what we may have wanted to do or have done in the past. It allows us to see how we agreed and how we agreed to disagree.

Life does not collapse by the thoughts of others. It allows you to hear the words or see the actions to determine inward or outward movement of your heart beat and towards your own existence and the reality you live with throughout your years developed through your own moral values and priorities in life.

Most of all, reflections allow you the knowledge that you were created by a most loving God and that your existence reflects His creativity, wisdom and love for those you hold close to your heart.

November 24, 2012