My brothers and sisters are busy too. My birthday is Dec. 31, so this was always my time of year as a kid, special times. Christmas, New Year's and birthday. Now I just hold on to whatever humanity I have left. We need to be more decent human beings, but it's hard.
Prison is hard.
Pam DeGuzman, a perky clerk- steno, wondered if the prison staff becomes, by default, the prisoners' extended family. We're here every day, here on the inside, and no one on the outside knows what it's like. After a while, we understand the prisoners' feelings maybe better than their families do, because we're here too. Guards and prisoners, together. The cliche about Christmas is that the joy comes from giving, not getting.