Martin Gonzalez, February 5, 2013
My name is Martin Gonzalez, I’m an inmate at California State Prison, in California. I have been in prison for ones 17 years, for a life crime that was committed when I was a juvenile. I’ve never kept a journal before so please bare with me as I crudely share my world with you. I say my world because there’s a Spanish saying that says, “cada cabeza es su mundo” (every mind is its own world). our thoughts, memories, and experiences define who we are as a person. The core of our being dwells within our mind, but what propels us and our thoughts is that energy that flows through our body and gives us life. This energy is our eternal soul. I believe our soul is the active and essential part of our moral and emotional nature. This nature is like the universe, ever expanding and changing. i think that our soul is fundamentally good, but it’s corruptible. When you minimize the bad you do, you corrupt your soul, but when you redeem yourself you can purge that corruption. The best way to learn something is to experience it, even the bad experiences in life can teach you something and help you grow as a person. If you believe in higher powers and that this God is all knowing and perfect and he created us imperfect, it is for a reason. Our imperfection makes us human and gives us room for self-growth. If every thing is good then life would have no meaning. My bad days make my good days better because I have known bad days. There’s nothing worse than living in monotony, where every day is the same. We are not designed to live in endless bliss or misery, we need a balance and some variation in our life or else we’ll become bored with life and lose that spark that makes life worth living. Being stuck in a cage sometimes 24 hours a day, with little or no real variation in my life gives me an insight that few experience without losing their minds. Every day I fight for my sanity and not allow mental starvation to kill that spark of life that has me looking forward to better days, and drives me to hope and dream for something more than this monotony. I share the beats of my heart with you and give you insight in to my world so that you’ll see that I am not a mindless animal like we are often portrayed by the media. I am a sentient being who aspires to be a better person and to be treated humanely! I am a human too!!! I hope my thoughts inspire you to get involved with the movement to end long term segregation of all sentient beings including those that society has deemed animals. No man or beast should be subjected to mental torture, that’s what segregation is! On that not I will close this entry.