rover330 Wrote:guess I am a bit confused this morning
don't know if it is the people threatening suicide, or beating up their girlfriends
my cat particularly likes to throw her water dish into the middle of the floor just to keep things interesting so that I might stumble and fall on my head
is there not a single solitary human being on the planet who might be even halfway kind
Actually cats are only with human beings for two reasons and two reasons only.
Eyeballs.
Human eye balls are the tastiest treats for cats. Of course cats are smart enough to know that they can't get the eyeballs off the living, thus they come up with round about ways to kill their human, or they opt for adopting an old woman and let nature take its course.
Now you know why cats and old women go together like peanut-butter and jelly - delicious, tender eyeballs.
Oh as for the humans, that is typical behavior for many humans.
Also understand that Robert just spent a good deal of time in a place where if you are not tough and talk a lot of shit and are willing (and able) to shank a person for a pack of smokes you are likely to end up dead.
Prisons are dehumanizing, they are basically designed to have gangs and threats of murder and physical violence to play out.
In order to survive he adopted behaviors that most likely he didn't have when he entered.
To top that out, after 9 years he is most likely institutionalized, meaning he isn't capable of fending for himself (financially, food, etc). He has gotten used to the state meeting his needs. That support system is completely ripped out from under him and he is plopped into the middle of this economic depression.
Even during good economic times ex-cons are far less likely to get a job - any job, because of their record, many employers do not even bother to hire.
What you see before you is a man who is most likely stressed out to the max, suffering from culture shock, not fully understanding that he will be able to sleep in his bed safely, not fully feeling like he can walk down the street without having to have to defend himself and prove that he is a big bad MoFo 24/7.
On top of that, he most likely is on parole with his P.O. breathing hot and heavy down his neck telling him to get a job when people without a record, with degrees and other fine papers can't get jobs.
He is relying on skills he learned in prison to survive in a non-prison setting. It takes years for most ex cons to relearn basic civilities and relearn how to live in society.
Most suffer from PSTD on top of what other ailments they may have, and society just keeps on punishing them day after day after day, even though the idea of prison is that that was their punishment.
Legally, a man pays the debt for his crime by serving time, socially, a man's debt is never repaid because society will never, ever let him live it down and will punish him every day for the rest of his life.
That's his reality. What can you do to help him adapt and survive?