I walk down halls, of concrete and stares. Among the monsters, worse than nightmares. With endless exposure to shanks and disease. And to all of these felons, I still must say please. The public is sheltered, kept safe from any harm. While my heart is racing, I respond to the alarm. A man is lying, face down on the floor. Inmates are yelling, cut him some more. With bare hands, and courage from above. The disturbance is quelled without raising a glove. We clear the compound, and lock down the range. For us inside, this is normal, not strange. Behind these walls I've seen my share. To the most horrible acts, I don't seem to care. Violence and bloodshed are now part of my life. I pray to God, don't let me take this home to my wife. We spend our lives working in Hell. Our stories are secret, we've no one to tell. We serve in silence, no cheers or parades. Yet the country is safer, by the service we made.
By T.G. Campbell, LIE
Federal Bureau of Prisons
Other Comments:
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles; or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is mared by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievment, and who at the worst; if he fails at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat!"
Theodore Roosevelt
Speech at the Sorbonne Paris, France April 23, 1910
It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us Freedom of Press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us Freedom of Speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the Freedom to Demonstrate.
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag that allows the protester to burn the flag.
By Father Dennis O'Brien Chaplain, USN God Bless Our Troops
