PRISONER EXPRESS

No one can dispute the expression of gratefulness after taking a deep, lungful of fresh air...ahhh...feels good just to mention and imagine it...smile. The elements that hold our world together that give us such air of pleasure, and therefore sustain us with food that grows up out of the ground, we must be grateful for these things. You know it is almost Halloween, and pumpkin pies come to mind, fires, and celebrations...

The sunshine that provides the warmth and energy and lights our path, to see and to grow, the rain that provides drinking water for man, and minerals from the earth and for food we eat, not just for us, but animals and all plant life too... we must appreciate all of these things.

One day, someone far superior to us made a plan...they created this system we presently live and die in. Some may call him God, and others something else, the system is the garden, there is no doubt that the plan included man into the mix. And the good and the bad had to live in perfect balance.

The ten percent of our brain that we use allowed us to wander off course and create our own artificial system, man became ungrateful for the bigger system, and started to ignore it, as some men do now. Total disregard for the natural eco-system is foolish, for this nature can teach man a lesson.

And the past history indicates traces of great flood, and cities buried by volcanic lava that nature brought upon us. Nature can come back to bite us on the ass for being so ungrateful. We all must show a collective gratitude for this beautiful system we live in. Learn to appreciate the sun, the air, the rain, the thunder, the snow, the cold, the green grass, and the trees and all the other vegetation that helps clean the air so we can all breathe clean and fresh.

Of course there are people that touched our lives that we must be grateful for as well. Thank them for the things they do, or have done for us in the past. Each one of us has something we can turn to, to express gratitude.

In my personal life there is a long list of people, but I will only list a few names here, starting with my mother and father. They brought me up and offered me good examples and gave me direction. But the rebellious teen that I was, I went away. But now I am older and I appreciate all they did for me. I also have my first wife Isabela, who had me a son and a daughter, and took them from me because I would not change. Now they are all grown up and between the two of them I have eleven grandkids. Also, my second wife who took over and Anna, who gave me a monster son, a big fellow, she stayed strong and waited for me for the first thirteen years of my sentence.

I can not go past that part of my life without thinking of the twelve members of the jury that chose to give me a life sentence instead of death by lethal injection during the punishment phase of my trial. And so next year is 2008 and it will be thirty years since...and during that time I have met many people.

I have always been a social type of person. I am grateful for the late great honorable congressman Henry B. Gonzalez...I recall getting off the police van in front of the court house, all chained up. Police were holding shotguns all over the entrance, and Henry B. came up to me and the cops moved aside, everyone knew him. He shook my hand and asked me what court I was going to. I told him the 186th James Barlow. He smiled and said he would be there, he knew the judge. Sure enough, during the trial I heard him mumbling all over and the judge called for a recess. I looked around and all eyes were looking toward Henry B. Gonzalez. I never forgot that, and I know he passed on, but I am thankful for his time and presence at my trial.

The Archbishop Patric Flores is another old man that also sent a letter and signed a petition on my behalf, to try and help get me out, asking the parole board for compassion...many people signed that petition, I can thank them all. I didn't even know some of the people who signed it, but I will always remember that, and I am grateful for that, and I thank them all. I will not forget that.

There was an attorney that even took my case during a motion for time cut, the late Earl S. Post. He claimed that God had directed him to help me...how can I not be grateful to someone like that. There are so many people that I do not mention here, but there are a few others that I recall...like for example Mr. Benito Alonzo. We did time together on several units, and he never changed. He showed me that to serve a long term sentence you must remain true and balanced in mind, body, and spirit. And one must have good sense, or the seven senses. Besides the first five everyone is familiar with, we must have an additional two more; common sense, and horse sense (a sense of humor). I learned that from him.

He too is serving a life sentence, his from 1974, mine from 1978, and I had the good fortune to meet one of his friends, Mr. Ruben Vela, who has done more time than either of us. Ruvencio is a skilled writer...and I like to write, so he encouraged me to continue writing. He showed me some of his stories, and some that were published, his and another friend and bro Joe Saldivar, another long term convict. These men could really write some great stories! I am thankful for their encouragement and grateful that they took the time to share some of their writings with me, and encouraged me to continue writing. I am still not good enough, but I continue to try and express myself.

Expressing gratitude is not easily done...especially for one who knows so many people not only in prison, but out there in the free world too. And I know that some names would be deserving of mention here...but space and time is limited for me at the moment. This theme was due October 1st and here it is the 11th...

But those mentioned I believe have had an impact on what I am doing now...attempting to be a theme writer for the Prisoner Express Program.

Thank you Gary, for providing the avenue and thanks to all who volunteer to keep this program going strong, for all the volunteers and donors that help pay for all this, thank you all.