I have chosen a little known group called Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) as the vehicle for my outward expression love for society. Why?
Because in it I see a simplicity. A truth. That in my experience, if you treat someone in a caring way, that they will be happier to comply with your wishes. That, if you treat someone with respect and show no guile or deceit then, they too will treat you the same way. Christ said it in "do unto others as you would have done to yourself".
As a lapsed Christian in a Christian country, I am amazed by the number of riders added to this philosophy. Many accept the phrase as correct, but then point out that is fine in a perfect world. But, others will take advantage of you. But, you cannot show criminals that you are nice, because they will take advantage of your weakness.
Is kindness, honesty and openness weakness? I do not believe so. Many people who are kind, open and truthful are the strongest human beings. They are sufficiently sure of them selves that they do not need guile.
So why is it I have had to go into prison to meet some of the nicest people I have ever met? It is because of AVP. It is because of the process that the AVP workshops put you through. The insights it has given me. The good advice I have been given by inmates.
The mutual respect, the good times, the sadness, the joy and tears. The finding of community in the bleakest, most violent parts of Australia.
Since being involved in AVP, I am acutely aware that people living in neighbouring houses are unaware of the stand-over, the beatings and the rapes that go on inside prison walls. 99% would be unreported. Because to many inmates the reporting of such incidents would mean worse punishment, or even death. Not by the authorities but by their peers. And if they knew would they care?
Despite all this violence going on, the authorities continue to send more and more people to prison, for longer and longer sentences. These people live in cramped, explosive situations with some of the most violent people in Australia. And once they have done their sentence they are released with a few dollars and the address of the local St Vinnies. They are then expected by society to come to their senses, find a job, settle down and be model citizens. I am amazed more people do not go back to jail. Some do. They have a bad bout of "Gate Fever" and do something stupid to stay inside, or once out get re-arrested. Prison for them may not be much, but it is all they have. An escapee from a prison is often considered dangerous, but at some time he is going to be released, is he any less dangerous then?
So I first started in AVP when a wonderful cheerful man called Steve Angell came into my life. He was in Australia and staying at the Brisbane Society of Friends Meeting House where he showed a film made by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, about an AVP course in Montreal. I did not make a conscious decision to be part of the AVP but the next thing I know I am in Sydney, doing a further course.
In 1991 we went into Moreton Correctional Centre in Brisbane to do the first AVP workshop in Australia. I was naive and keen and it was a memorable time for me, because I found that inmates were human. That they shared my dreams, they wanted what I wanted. They were just like me. There, I thought, but for the grace of God, go I.
In my youth knocking around with gangs of kids in East London, (You had to be in a gang for protection against other gangs) I got up to minor mischief. I can say that there were a few times when God intervened to keep me out of trouble. I still cannot believe how fortunate I was!
Had I got a criminal record: I would not be Australian. (I am convinced that 70% of Australians would not qualify to live here, if they had to go through the immigration process.) I would not be working in the investment industry. My life would have been totally ruined by imprisonment.
My point is that in my youth, I transgressed. I was a bit of a sinner. But now I am a self- employed businessman. I pay my taxes, I am a Justice of the Peace, I am not violent to my family, or to society. I realised what was happening to me as a youth and got out.
I see in many prisoners who were in circumstances like me. But instead of escaping they got caught.
How society treats me and how it treats them, is not proportionate to the differences between us. When I go into a jail, I am treated like a guest- they are treated like the worst behaved children. When they get out there will always be that shadow over their lives because they have a criminal record.
So for a couple of God given interventions, I am given a far higher status than a convicted criminal. And who amongst us have never broken the law. (Of God or man?)
Many inmates tell me that when they get on an AVP course it is the first time in their living memory that anyone has ever treated them as an equal. The first time someone has ever spoken to them and listened without judgement about what they have said. That to me is a sad indictment of society. It tells me that society is too ready to condemn and allow someone to go unheard.
I know what it is like to go unheard. It is a painful experience. You try to have your point of view heard and you know whatever you say the "listeners" have already made up their minds. It was frustrating and it made me very angry. I coped with my anger through counselling, through my family's love and my wife's support. But what if I had not had those support mechanisms, or could not afford the counselling, what then? If I had been violent would I be too different from the person I am now? I do not think so.
Why do an AVP workshop?
The first thing is that you will find is someone will listen to what you have to say. I do not mean just listen, but hear what you have to say. The next thing is that you will meet about a dozen to twenty of the nicest people you are likely to meet.
You will talk about things you have not discussed for years. You will share things you never thought you would. You will hear someone express something that you thought was your own. You will get angry. You will laugh. You may even cry. You may feel distant, or close, or frightened, or secure. You will feel alive. You will bring to the group all your experience, fears, hopes, ideas, humour and your humanness. The idea of the group is to experience the process. To participate. To do and say to react and discuss.
At the end of the course, you may have taken off a layer, or looked inward or outward. You may stop there, or go on to do work in prisons, or in the community. You may help us, to try to make society a less violent place.
Whatever you choose to do, I would ask that you start the process, (Any process will do!) to find that inner peace. Be sure to test it to see if is really peaceful rather than a suppression of anger and resentment. Like Singapore, there a thousands of people who are wandering around Australia, serene on the outside and seething within.
Once that inner peace is within you, you makes the rest of the world a little less violent, a little more accepting and a much nicer place for our children to live in. And we will start to create the paradigm shift that humanity so desperately needs.
For more information on AVP Workshops please contact me on (07) 3278 2279 or fax (07) 3278 2015. Email <[email protected]>
Terry Pinnell