Almost 3,000 convicts are released from prison each month in South Africa and rejected by society. The past cannot define the future as communities try to support ex-convicts released back into society. In many instances, society rejects convicts forcing ex-convicts to go back to prison.
The conditions of South African prisons are appalling, dirty, unhygienic, overcrowded and ruled by gangs. Criminals placed into the prisons have little or no chance of rehabilitation. Gangs operating within the prison structures affect people who want to rehabilitate. The trauma of spending months and even years in South African prison does not disappear when the inmate is released back into society. The rehabilitation during jail time is not sufficient to escape the harm experienced within the prisons. Gang leaders within the prison walls operate in conjunction with criminals on the outside, thereby ensuring crime continues as forceful as before. Often there is no hope of leading a crime free life upon parole.
There are rehabilitation programs providing support and therapy for prison convicts both within prisons and in society. The change must come from within and choices need to be made. Prisoners are encouraged to have a positive attitude toward life, attend rehabilitation and stay away from crime. The optimistic approach of criminals leaving prison soon dwindles away as rejection by society becomes a reality of a harsh world for most.
Offering support for prison convicts becomes nearly impossible with residents preferring not become involved. The obstinate attitude of society often leads to the prisoners entering the criminal surrounds in an attempt to survive. Drugs are often a cause of repeated crime by ex convicts.
South Africa is a racial stereotype country and goodwill within communities’ lack trust. The rise of crime does not help prison convicts to enter society and live an ordinary life. Prison convicts often meet with rejection from companies when seeking employment and this demoralizing impression forces most to return to crime. The high unemployment levels within South Africa is another factor in convicts’ inability to find work.
The stigma attached to ex-convicts is a major problem causing rejection from society. Prison convicts often believe that the rehabilitation received does not lead to an active role in society. Community organization can assist former prisoners through spiritual guidance and skills development. By doing so, they would be raising hope of leading a life without crime for ex-convicts. Trust is often the cause of failure within communities dealing with former inmates. The tarnished reputation of prison convicts leaves little hope for the future.
The reintegration into society for prison convicts is difficult. In South Africa, many people believe that offenders should not be allowed early parole and struggle with forgiveness. The eye-for-an-eye mentality indeed exists in South African communities. Prison prisoners serve time in prisons and overcoming the public’s judgmental perception is often the most difficult trauma for ex-convicts to bear. Rejected by society after serving a prison sentence in South Africa for crimes committed is often a harsh criticism for prison convicts to understand.
Attitude can be defined as a
mind-set, an approach, a feeling, position or an opinion. What is your attitude
and does your attitude change with circumstances or do you remain impartial to
feelings and people? Does your attitude have no direct involvement or interest
in world events and do you really present an unbiased outlook on life?
The Peace that Passes all Understanding
May the peace that passes all understanding dwell in your heart? Can you imagine living with the peace that passes all understanding in your heart? The bliss from this peace will radiate from within and dispel any gloom or suffering, misery and pain. The harmony from this peace will radiate and dispel any darkness.
Walking in such peace would cause your attitude to change immediately. Obtaining the peace that passes all understanding would require a change of attitude and that would require action.
Take action to walk in the light! To take action without a motive, or without reason and without attachment is to attain a balanced frame of mind.
Action is not a decision; anybody can make a decision. Action is the knowledge to bring balance. It is the wisdom that the action will have, there will be no expectations, no desires, and there will be only love of light.
Can you love without the ‘if’ or the ‘because’, probably not, we are not saints but we can try to by changing our attitude and transforming our world. First and foremost is the command to ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.’
The peace that passes all understand will guide us to love the Lord without any ‘if’ or ‘because’ simply by our understanding the real, powerful and unshakable love. We need to look within our hearts and understand and love ourselves without hindrance and rejection, and then we will be free to love, to life and fill our lives with the peace that passes all understanding.
Friendliness to all equals – Part 1 of the four-fold
Is it difficult to be friendly toward everybody? In our society today, openness of genuine friendliness is missing. The friendliness should be beneficial toward everybody.
Gracious, pleasant, responsive and sociable. Stop using selective friendliness. Do not show partiality and cultivate a high social status toward those considered inferior.
Are you an elitist? If you do then change, become aware of whom you are friendly toward, and you will soon realize the beggar, the shop assistant, the boss and the government are not enemies. Show neighborly friendship to everybody and stop being selective. Demonstrate friendliness without hostility let your attitude radiate friendliness at all times.
Do not let your friendliness be bound to fear. There should be no fear of being friendly toward everybody. The only fear you will have is if you are afraid of people wanting to extend the friendship or ask you for something. This will mean that you are attached to the material world and not living in the blessing. This is no reason to fear, your smile, your kind word, your goodwill is sufficient.
Change your attitude and let the warm, comforting, affectionate and benevolent friendliness become the real you.
Compassion for those of a lower status
Compassion is the thoughtful concern for others. Why do we not have compassion, is it because of the judgment toward others that we hold in our minds. Show compassion by offering sympathy for the suffering of others and include a desire to help. The misfortune of others and those of a lower status should not be ignored. Compassion, the care, concern, sensitivity and mercy to all humankind is indeed a rare attribute among people.
More importantly show compassion to yourself, be kind to who you are and develop a sympathetic consciousness and cultivate a desire of warm-heartedness. Love yourself, understand who you are and then you will develop a compassionate nature that will radiate your love.
Give birth to compassion for the nearest yet unfamiliar aspect of yourself, as you do for the one outside who feels like a stranger. — Neil Douglas-Klotz in The Hidden Gospel
Absence of envy to those above us
Can it be said that jealousy stems from an immature mind? Is
jealousy a disease, where love is a healthy condition? Can the mind mistake one
for the other and assume that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy? These
two powerful emotions entwined can produce unbearable turmoil.
Envy is the resentful feeling of another’s good fortune,
success, qualities or possessions. It is the desire to possess something that
one does not have. Envy causes resentment, an aggrieved feeling and a sense of
being treated poorly. It is a strong feeling or emotion of grievance and
displeasure.
There is no joy in being envious; this can make a person
feel inadequate. Envy creates a feeling of not being able to reach a certain
standard of contentment. The fear of lack, incompetence and hopelessness are
consequences of allowing envy to control your mind.
There will always be people above us whether it is through
higher education, social standing or creativeness. Why envy these people, they
are who they are, and you are who you are. It is your attitude that can make a
difference, just as it is the attitude of the people above us that can make a
difference when they to show compassion. It does not matter where you are, or
who you, it only matters that you obtain the peace that passes all
understanding.
Total indifference to those who
regard themselves as our enemies
Indifference can be a lack of interest, care or concern. Precisely,
your enemies will provoke, slander and attack you, and by showing total indifference,
you will emerge as the winner. The enemy will not be able to provoke you to the
cause or occasion of an emotion or a response.
Indifference can be identified by being unresponsive,
detached, aloof, unmoved and unconcerned.
Remaining indifferent will be choosing to remain neutral in
a time of danger, struggle and especially by not making a choice to enter, a
dispute will imply total control over emotion.
It is not to live a life being indifferent to all
situations; it is about being indifferent to the enemy. Certainly, there will
be indifference to governments or politics and that is not the enemy, unless you
make them your enemy.
A person can love one person and be indifferent to others,
and this is not love but the personality of selfishness.
The secret of how to live without resentment or embarrassment in
a world in which I was different from everyone else. was to be indifferent to
that difference.
This is the four-fold attitude of friendliness, compassion,
absence of envy and indifference that can transform your world.
Remember the opposite of love is not hate – it is the
indifference.
Life is simple; it is about walking in love, and not
complicating matters. Life is about attaining the peace that passes all
understanding. Life is not about changing the world, it is about being a better
person, by letting your light shine and let others change their world through your
impact of radiating light and love. Life is about how you respond to events,
actions, thoughts and people. There is nothing to fear, life is meant to be
happy and inspiring and guided by knowledge. Life is beautiful and to
understand yourself and refuse self-rejection, principles, the choices and the
change.
Life is about living, therefore, love life and
life will love you back. Cultivate a love of life and gain clarity, coupled
with compassion and your actions will generate the peace and love of a life
lived abundantly.
Seemingly,
man has learned to live without God, preoccupied, indifferent toward Him, and
concerned only about material security and pleasure.
Will the future generations of the rainbow nation condemn the current African National Congress (ANC) government of South for the ignorance and inaction of not achieving any value to the country? There is the continued frustration of knowing what the ANC government must do and their lack of action. The knowing and doing seem to have two different values, leaving citizens frustrated. The failure of service deliveries by the ANC government causes the rainbow nation constant annoyance and deterioration of building anything of value for future generations. The ANC knows what to do, have the potential and resources to expand on the value but never seem to invest in the action of realization.
The different cultures within the South African rainbow nation are not united. There is the constant diverse and often different directions ethnic groups move in. The past and present history of South Africa is a metaphor used to divide the rainbow nation and not unite the country. Persistent tension arises from the political and ethical variations of inaction.
Cultural identity and memories of past historical context are exploited by the current rulers who cause division among the rainbow nation. Building the nation and allowing ethnic groups to understand the recent history of South Africa changes continually.
South Africa fabricates the reconciling of all the citizens as a rainbow nation. There is no strong ethical structure to ensure each different culture has the benefit of understanding the historical context of identity. The martyrs, who shaped the country, built a foundation for future generations should be etched into the memory of the population.
The government allows the education system to shape the minds of the learners by rewriting history and ignoring or erasing the core foundation of South Africa. Afrikaans is historically a base foundation of South Africa and on the brink of being eliminated through the education system. It is the Afrikaners who brought South Africa into history, yet it is now frowned upon. The future generations will have a new history etched into their minds, and the real foundation of South Africa will be a fabricated tale.
Read more at http://guardianlv.com/2014/10/rainbow-nation-of-south-africa-affirms-ignorance-and-inaction/#uFjgYTfaTFJPEHzh.99
South Africa needs a mindset change toward service deliveries as protests continue to increase across the country. Service delivery protests are getting worse, and the vandalism, looting and destruction of property are unacceptable. The government of South Africa condemns the recent action of protesters.
The South African government has failed to supply the necessary infrastructure over the last twenty years, and people are protesting in an attempt for the state to take action. According to protesters, vandalism is the only language the government understands.
Over the past week, a protester was shot dead near a squatter camp, during protests for better living conditions. The people are tired of living in shacks and want the government to build houses. A disgruntled resident in Ennerdale, south of Johannesburg said that there has been no development in the area for the past twenty years. There was no hospital; squatters occupy the illegal stands and drugs are a rising problem. There is no recreation for the children, intermittent electricity and far too frequent water cuts. Enough is enough, the people chant, and vow to continue blocking roads with burning tires in an attempt to get the government to deliver on their pre-election promises.
No formal electricity and limited water and sanitation is still prevalent today in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, a community that has seen little change over the past twenty years. Government housing is random and not fully understood. The real big change over the past twenty years is a criminal justice system the protesters face in an attempt to stop service delivery marches.
The protesters understand the consequences of the damage undertaken during protests and have revealed they are not afraid of the police action. The rubber bullets and tear gas the police use in an attempt to disperse the crowds do not stop the vandalism, looting and damage. The protesters keep going back to the streets with intentions of a peaceful demonstration for better living conditions, but the pattern of intimidation soon turns into a destructive, violent chaos.
Millions of rands worth of damage has incurred over the years from the destruction of the protesters who vandalize, burn and loot during these marches. This week a violent protest took place at a railway station where two vehicles were set alight by angry demonstrators. One person was killed, and another survived severe eye damage during the violent protest. The Railway Agency condemned this action.
The government of South Africa twists this bad story into a good story by broadcasting to the people that service deliveries are real and significant progress has been made over the past twenty years. The government delivers and the people protest, not because of inadequate service deliveries but because there is real progress made. It is the people who have higher expectations.
The right-wingers will be branded as racist for saying the government is failing on service deliveries. The liberals will continue to boast about all the good the government does and ignore the plight of the service delivery failures. The people of South Africa want a better life, have no political agenda and prove that the government is failing.
A slight decline of Ebola cases was recorded in Liberia’s Lofa district, and in Sierra Leone districts, Kailahun and Kenema, according to WHO reports. Liberia opened a new treatment center for the Ebola epidemic but reports indicate that that only twenty-one percent of the 2,930 bed space is available, and Sierra Leone has similar reports.
READ THE ARTICLE : http://itfeelsgood.info/ebola-threat-1.html There are diverse beliefs in parts of West Africa among the different cultures that hinder the actual reporting and treatment of Ebola patients. Some believe that uttering the word ‘Ebola’ causes the virus to appear. In other instances, doctors are blamed for spreading the virus. Ebola and what we know The Worse Scenario - much possible...by Piotr Grzywacz, Laura Oneale Read the article: http://itfeelsgood.info/health---ebola-threat-.html
Recent rise of cases of Ebola Virus concerned the world community and, especially, the medical one. At this point there is no need for finger pointing - who did what and when. More important is to educate public and prepare yourself for the worst. In this case, if less dramatic scenarios will appear, we can cruise through them with no disturbance of our regular life.
In back of our minds we know that outbreaks are inevitable. We are just waiting for them to happen and hope that they will go away as soon as possible.
The worse scenario is that the virus will spread uncontrolled and 90% of the population will die.
In such a case we have to be ready for death of our family members and arrange as much as we can for that kind of situation.
