Inmate Blogger

Knowing now, what I didn’t know then, has changed my perspective on so many things.

For those of you who know me, in 2000 I had Lasik. My eyesight has been poor since I was four. My father discovered this when he asked me to go get him something that was sitting across the room from us. I said where? I don’t see it.

I had Lasik, which back then was touted as a miracle cure to poor eyesight. The statistics on success rates were very high. I was both intrigued and enamored with the idea of seeing clearly without the hard, itchy contacts I had worn since the age of 15, not the coke bottle embarrassing binoculars the doctors called ‘glasses’. The year 2000 I self labeled as the year of ‘Kathleen’. I signed up for a ‘new look on life’.

The results came out slightly different than expected. I saw perfectly! For one day. For the next two years my eyes shifted daily in and out of focus. No sooner would I get a new pair of glasses, than the prescription was obsolete. I can no longer comfortably wear contact lenses – the surgery dries out your eyes more than they already were. I have worn glasses for the last 18 years straight and will wear them till I die. So much for bettering my eyes 😦

But the thing about this little adventure of mine, that sticks most in my craw, was a conversation I had with my lasik doctor after surgery, in one of the many visits to bemoan my less than desired results… I apologized to my doctor about messing up his stats, I could not be a poster child reference. He shocked me as he replied “oh no, your surgery was a success”.

I knew at that time that I had fallen for the oldest scam in the world. I BELIEVED. I believed the stats in the ads. I believed those TV commercials. I believed that this doctor had my best interests at heart. Deceit? Why would they try to deceive us? For money? Nah…..

And I remembered this lesson the other evening when corresponding with my good friend Diana. She wrote “I sit and watch those shows on tv where they catch the guy and I’ve always been pretty judgmental and now i can see in so many cases that was so wrong”. Why would the police lie? For money? Fame? To keep their federal funding?Nah….

My eyesight is worse than ever yet I am a Lasik ‘success’?

My innocent son is in jail marked as a child molester and our governments fight on sexual predators is working?

Wait. What?!?

We are all lied to, every day, by the government, media, doctors, lawyers, people who are supposed to have our best interests at heart. But they don’t. They sell our trust and beliefs.  They use us for gain. Hard truth.

So, what I’m trying to get to here is this – do you look down your nose at that man in prison? He must have done something wrong! Do you respect that police officer because he wears a badge? Do you trust that doctor, or lawyer, has your best interests in mind as he works on your case? Don’t.

There are good cops and bad cops. Some lawyers work selflessly, some just take your money. Some doctors thrive from helping their patients, some rush through your appointment not really listening to you. Some men in jail are innocent. Some men in jail have been reformed. LOOK AT THESE PEOPLE.

You cannot tell the truth without opening your eyes.

There is a blog called ‘Inmate Blogger’ – it’s an outlet for inmates to relieve stress, emotion, hope and rage. I encourage you to read a few pages with an open mind and an open heart.

Kathleen