Feeding Time
Broadcast on The Mike Malloy Show January 20, 2011.
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Below is an excerpt. To read the rest of the words go here http://www.voicesinourheads.com/2017/07/12/feeding-time/
The most important part of the day if you live in a prison, nuthouse, or zoo is … feeding time. Even if the food is mediocre to bad … any break in the constant boredom is welcome.
One of the first things learned when living in an institution is: You Must Follow The Rules. If you don’t … they won’t feed you. The Rules might be degrading, inhumane, counterproductive, or just plain stupid … but it doesn’t make any difference. If you don’t follow The Rules … you won’t get fed.
After understanding that particular fact of life, most of us accept the operant conditioning so we can line up with everyone else holding their food tray at dinner time.
So life goes on. We follow the rules … and they feed us. But what if we want a double portion of stew, or a bigger piece of pie? How do we get it? We can’t follow The Rules any better than we already are. What do we have to do to get a bigger piece of cherry pie?
At first we only have ourselves to use as a resource. If we want more out of existence we have to start thinking about how we can use other people as our resource.
Look around. Pay attention. Watch your fellow prisoners or inmates. You’ll find somebody who’s not following The Rules. And then you can tell a guard or the head nurse all about it. Then you can have your pie. Essentially all you have to do is align yourself with The Authorities instead of your fellow prisoners or inmates. You stop being a part of “Us” when you start cooperating with “Them.” And it pays off.
The prison population is huge. There’s always somebody who’s not following The Program you can rat on. There’s always somebody you can use to get ahead. And you prosper. Because you’ve understood how to use The Rules. You’re on a whole new level now.
