Is the Effort worth the Prize?

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, January 4, 2015

Is the Effort worth the Prize?

Since my retirement in 2010, I have been reading more books and more blogs than ever before trying to figure out whether achieving your goal is worth the effort needed to bring success to your own dreams coming true. Ever since the beginning, we have been told to keep our” eyes on the prize” and focused all our energies, efforts and persistence guide us towards that journey.

Chronicling the truth in this concept of believing in your dreams brings up some very interesting facts in your journey to success. Writing and documenting my research on personal development, character building and techniques in gaining characteristics that reflect honor, integrity and good moral turpitude, it has been a long exhausting trek to find a conclusive ending to this question, “is the effort worth the prize?”

It is likely my answers are not very clear or presented in any logical or rational fashion that is acceptable to be the truth or even a matter of fact for many who struggle with the same question. In fact, I would not ever hesitate to call it a conclusion as is purely based on my emotional intelligence as well as my emotional energy as it presented itself to me while under some kind of duress or distress to keep it as objective as it could be without tainting it too much with my own subjectivity on the matter.

Let me elaborate. Answering this question is purely speculative and based on my own individual argument that the effort is worth the prize. As it is seen by reflection of my life and experiences, it makes sense to me how I attained my own successes while discovering or gleaning my actual sacrifices or pain attained along the way. Giving some credit to divine intervention, I gathered the fact that in most cases of my success, I was in charge of myself and somehow made a negative event a positive gain in my life.

It’s very much like asking the question, “is there a God?” and then trying to understand the question as thoroughly as you can. Even though you feel one way about the question, there are some things that makes you see or realize how other things may cast doubt on your beliefs and those around you who influence you in many ways. What is strange about these kind of self-evaluations or questions asked of yourself, it seems to be another layer of stress, anxiety and complexity you put on yourself as you search for the answers of life.

Searching for the truth often requires you to step out of the box or in this case, your comfort zone that is dictated by your social and religious foundations. How much are you willing to drift from the box to find the answer? The farther you travel, the closer you are to learning more important things about yourself, your world and your character.

Risky to say the least, it takes both physical and mental preparation to take such a journey. There will be moments of irony as well as instants of oxymoron situations and other remarkable contradictive situations you must handle in order to go forward in your research. How much freedom you lose or gain will depend on the path you take.

Lastly, during such a journey you will find yourself in compromising or challenging positions that considered to be in-between locations as you search for the truth. Now you must ask yourself, is the effort worth the prize and decide to settle for less or keep on going. It repeats itself over and over until you reach your dream or your goal. Regardless, this is a very up close and personal event and nobody can help you decide which way to go, or when to stop and be satisfied where you are at.