Originally Posted by
GeneChing
I've been to jail as a visitor. I have some friends that work in corrections, as well as some friends that went to jail. The penal system is actually one of the largest economies here in CA, so it's hard to be Californian and not be in touch with the issues.. I bring this up mostly because I'm curious how connected you are to the incarcerated. Do you do anything to help solve the problems or do you just disregard them? I'm not saying that the Angels are all goody-two-shoes by any stretch. At the same time, I'm not going to deny my personal association with my classmate. He's my friend and training brother.
But back to my question, which neither of you bit at, those prisoners are all asking for redemption. They beleive that redemption can be found in the martial arts. Oddly enough I completely agree. Should we deny them that possibility by excluding them from tai chi?
My profession is as a Probation Officer (you may know it as a Parole Officer which is almost identical to my profession)...so I deal with criminals 5 days a week. I make regular visits to the institutions to interview and make recommendations to the court on whether an inmate should be released and placed on Probation and what the conditions on the order should be. I also do institution placement reports, court reports and supervising of offenders placed on Probation to make sure they abide by the conditions of the order and breach them if they do not and send them back to court...
A lot ask for redemption...how many do you think really mean it? I can tell you...It takes a heck of a lot more than just some tai chi or kung fu to bring about a change in offender criminal thinking errors. My profession involves counselling and programming to bring about a positive change in thought which leads to non-criminal behaviour.
The issue was not denying them Tai Chi. The issue was a full page color advertisement of a member of the HA wearing colors and you saying he is a member of the HA, thus making a connection between the magazine and the HA.
...ask for Kam
------------------------------------------------
"Fool me once, then shame on you. Fool me twice, then shame on me"