Inmate number is ND7568. Imma call this “Bad behavior before parole.” This is Kenjuan Congo, Jr. calling from a prison camp behind enemy lines.
A lot of times people do whatever’s called idiotic thing- idiotic things before parole, like they might fail a drug test or get in a fight or get a write up, and the parole board, they be like, you know, you’re gonna up for parole, why would you do this, why would you act in this way when you gotta see us? Automatically, the parole board attacks them.
But a lot of times people fail to realize is we got an action, but that action, it also has a cause, like, what will cause that action, what will cause that behavior. So a lot of times we just look at the effect and not the cause. We look at the behavior, and not the ideology and mindset behind that type of behavior. We as human beings, we got a natural response to avoid pain. We usually see a speeding car like man, I don’t want to jump in front of that, that that’s gonna hurt, or it’s a big tough guy you like, man, he if punch me in the face, oh, man, god dang. So you got a natural response to avoid pain.
A lot of times we think that like aight cool, but what about emotional pain? The pain, they limit it to their physical senses. We got emotional pain, stress, anxiety, depression. So the body also has a natural response to avoid emotional pain. This is why people say lower your lower your expectations, because you got high expectations, and they don’t go your way, it will cause emotional pain. So when people say your lower expectations, that’s a defense mechanism to avoid that potential pain.
So you got someone going up for role, right, and we say, yo, lower your expectations. But at the same time, with that lower expectation, that affects your decision-making process. Now the argument comes with that lower expectation, they more inclined to negative behavioror be tempted with drugs or be tempted with any type of impulse, their first response is like saying I got a lower expectation. So by lowering- lowering that expectation, to avoid pain, will also lead to negative behavior.
But the thing is, like you’ll have to be keeping a high expectation when we go to parole, but the same time if it don’t go our way, cope and manage with that pain. That’s why it’s important to develop the tools and strategies and methods to deal with our emotional pain when things don’t go our way. Because when we lower expectations, that it turns affects our decision-making.
So all in all, the human body got a natural response to avoid pain, not just physical pain, but emotional pain as well. And by lowering expectations, that’s a defense from this emotional pain. If we don’t go our way, we don’t want to hurt, so we lower our expectations. This expectation is lower, that affects our decision making when we’re inclined negative behavior, so we need to be able to have high expectations to also manage that emotional pain.
Just a little food for thought. This is Kenjuan Congo, Jr. calling from a prison camp behind enemy lines. Thank you, all power to the people.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.