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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
































































































































Saturday, December 3, 2016

We all Suffer - the Power of Forgiveness







There are people, good and upstanding ‘help-your-neighbor-kind-of-people’ who go to church where the pastor thinks homosexual behavior is a sin and accept that as a fact but don’t go out of their way to repeat what was said. They are not ignoring that fact, they just chose not to negatively act on that fact. Instead, they sought the positivity in such situations and brought with them peace, compassion and kindness showing everyone the kind of love Jesus showed when he walked amongst us.
As a writer, I respect those views and accept the fact that homosexuality is a sin. However, no sin is worse than the other and we all sin. Who are we to choose which sin is worse than the other?  
Hence, we acknowledge two things: God is love and love is God. How or who we love comes from our heart and soul. That is another fact. We are not living in a perfect world and the way we choose to live our livestyle is based on our ability to make choices. God gave us the free will to make choices.
As a writer, I have no idea what your personal views are about the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender communities. As a Christian, I know the power of forgiveness and love – that is something we don’t exercise often enough and we need to do more of it so we know that God is listening to us and shows His presence inside our hearts.
Whether the topic is same-sex marriage or just about the general issues related to the LGBT relationships, I cannot speak for anyone but myself but feel compelled to write about those relationships that I have personally seen and witness with family and close friends exercising their free-will and choosing partners or spouses of the same sex.
I do not condemn them, I have no reason to resent or be offended by them as their choices appear to be based on their own love and needs in life. These people, young and old, do not frustrate me or make me angry – they have done nothing to me to fear them or be against them like some act with their hate-crimes.
 I have personally seen how happy they are and give them the benefit of the doubt and reserve my own judgment on their choices. I think God would want me to do that. We sometimes underestimate the power of love and who are we to choose what is wrong or right for someone else? More importantly, what about the power of forgiveness?
This kind of talk should not be on the news but it is. Perhaps it is mainstream media’s way to indict people for choices not in line with their own morality or lifestyles.
However, I take this as another step that shows how much the media is out of touch with current events related to relationships. In other words, I believe the media is trying to wrongfully influence us or persuade us to twist our thoughts towards their opinions and standards. We all know how reliable the news is on the power of persuasion.
I don’t think that LGBT bashing is called for and that leads me to write about the suffering caused by such harassment or bullying by those who don’t take the time to learn more about the LGBT communities and their lifestyle as well as contributions to society.
As a person, I have found love in every person who has ties to the LGBT lifestyle. I have witnessed same-sex marriages making two people happy and relationships that show that two people of the same gender can live in harmony and love each other just like the rest of us. There is no differential there – they are all people who love each other.
If you’re a conservative in America, you’re pretty used to knowing that your favorite celebrities will regularly disagree with you on everything from abortion to LGBT matters to climate change and that is okay as long as you are not persuaded to follow their ideology without freely doing so by investing the time to learn more about the matter.
Everybody gets offended over everything today – it is time to let go of their beliefs and focus on our own. Per independent research studies by the Pew Research Center, as of 2016, 37 percent of adults in this country still oppose same-sex marriage, while 55 percent approve. That means over a third of Americans are still against same-sex marriage.
Meanwhile, among Christians, 54 percent thought that homosexuality should be accepted in society, per a 2014 Pew study—which means that up to 46 percent thought it shouldn’t be. Among Protestants, 44 percent believe that homosexuality should be discouraged in society.
A Gallup pointed out in 2015, fewer than 4 percent of Americans identify as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender). In contrast, Americans tend to think a whopping 23 percent of the population is LGBT.
That’s not shocking, given how much media and entertainment go out of their way to highlight such couples. Ultimately, same-sex marriage is legal, until everyone in America agrees that same-sex marriage is OK—or at least is afraid to say otherwise.  

The Paperback - The Value of Suffering, including the LGBT community