Correctional Officers ~
Perception versus Reality
It was the Talmud
that said “We see the world, not as it is, but as we are”
Working as a
correctional officer and under much stress and anxiety may create a condition
that is filled with impressions that may appear real but are quite the opposite
and unreal in many cases. Dealing with the word “reality” has become a
challenge in every sense of the word and what it brings to the mind, spirit or
soul of any individual struggling with its side effects based on wanting to see
things the way they are actually presented in their dimension rather that
perceptions influenced by environmental conditions or biases.
What is reality
and what does it bring for us. Is it the way you see it or is it the way you want
to see it? Just because we want to see something different doesn’t make it so
or any more real than it actually is. We have engaged in many conflicts or
disagreements related to such inconsistencies in our lives that it has become a
daily challenge to sort out anything that can be classified real.
First you must
keep an open mind and an open heart at all times to see things as they are. You
must control your own points of view as well as taking into account the
viewpoints of others around you and maintain what is valuable according to your
own morality and ethics. Do not compromise your values to seek the truth or the
reality of something that happened and rationalize it the way you are most
comfortable with and not others.
Remember that
being realistic does not make your see the truth or reality in its entirety.
You must first put the condition into context of the situation. The more you
know about the situation the less you are going to draw the wrong conclusions. Once
you admit to yourself that the truth is fluid and not a solid state of mind,
you are on the right track. Being fluid
in concept means that what you see is real only if you put it in the defined
structures of your own ethics, morality and beliefs. It is true that it is
sometimes difficult to answer certain questions about what you see and appears
to be a reality but let me give you an example of how your internal structures
impact your perception and thus your own reality.
When you are
raised in a poor neighborhood infiltrated with gangs and your family is a part
of this social structure you won’t see it the same way other people do that
don’t live in your neighborhood as they see these gang members as the enemy and
not family. Living among them allows you to understand their ways and their
characters and makes perfectly good sense why they do what they do in order to
survive or gangbang to be safe and cope with their social impurities according
to societal standards but not necessarily your own.
There is no way
another person, never exposed or having lives in a gang infested area, would
understand these ways the gangs operate and deal with everyday life. This is
putting things out of context if you don’t know the conditions or the
environmental influences surrounding you on a daily basis. What is good or bad
could differ from the other that see just the opposite based on lack of
knowledge of the characters involved and see them all as bad. What made be
reserved judgment for one may be an extreme prejudice for another unless put
into context of the environment.
Second we allow our perceptions to be skewed by things we control in
ideals and other conditions. This is
based on certain things or facts you have experienced in your own life and how you
dealt or responded when put under those conditions.
A good example is a death in the family. For those that have been through
a tragic or unexpected death, they are mostly perceived to be tragic and
horrible in content with unexplained reasons why such a death occurred. On the
other hand if the death was expected due to a long illness or disease we handle
it different and choose to do more positive things related to the death rather
than the negative actions associated with an unexpected death especially one
such a murder or violent accident.
Either way you are in control how you respond to these deaths but not in
control of the event as it occurred. As an end result you shape your actions
and beliefs on the part where you have the power to deal with it and create
your own conditions to cope with the event. You have real choices to make when facing
sequences and consequences that impact your own life. If the death was related
to lung cancer and the person that died was a heavy smoker, your own beliefs
may impair your grief level and determine it to be somewhat self-inflicted and
cause you to either stop smoking or tell someone close to you to stop smoking. Cause
and effect takes place when conditions are permitted to be shaped through your
own reality of the event.
As correctional officer you may believe that human life is the most
precious thing on Earth. However, when you introduce your own ideas and beliefs
into to equation you begin to determine that even human life has stages that
marginalize their value or worth on Earth. You may see your spouse, your kids
or your immediate family as the most valuable asset in the world. You put them
on top and treat them accordingly. Surely if something were to happen to them
you would become concerned and worried taking every action or precaution to
help them and make sure their suffering is minimized.
Now we move down this food chain we have created inside our minds based
on our own morality and values and see other life forms more less than
important than others. In fact, you may even believe that some human life form
have no rights to live or exist on this Earth based on their own character
flaws, deeds or crimes committed. Unintentionally but with all reality, we
formulate a superior class versus a lower class of human life based on our own
moral compass, environment and values. Therefore it is fair to say that what is
a reality for one may not be a reality for another to the degrees felt either
emotionally or physically. Remember that what you believe in is only as true as
your own experiences.
The less life experiences you are
exposed to the more rigid your perception is of the situation and the making
your thinking more of a reality than those of others around you. This is also true on the level of knowledge
you possess; the more you know the more varied your responses are to a
situation. It is logical to believe
that your power to choose how you perceive things makes them appear that way to
you.
However, when
you allow your cultural influences to compromise your own thoughts [beliefs] on
the matter, you may drift away from your own reality and enter the world of
those that work or live around you changing your perspective and the truth as
you experience it as a correctional officer working inside a potentially
volatile penitentiary.
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