Dear Inside Sistas,
I am an Outside Sista who, not long ago, was doin’ time at SQCC. I walked through Clusters 1 and 2 and rested my head at night on a concrete pillow too.
Supporting other women and making some difference to the circumstances that led not only me but all past, present and future women to the front gates of Gatton can only be done while I am wearing colours other than teal each day. Actually, it’s ironic: teal was once one of my favourite colours. I wore it as a high school student, and I taught in two public schools where the uniform colour was teal. It is my least favourite colour now.
This letter is to remind you all that, as Sistas, we need to be there for one another to raise women up. We need to work together, walk together and wield together, especially when we are “inside” together… in a unit of seven others with diverse stories, personalities and backgrounds, with a cellie who remembers pain as she sleeps and talks out loud, as we stand in one line waiting for our morning pills and potions, and as we pass one another on the footpaths.
Be kind to one another. Show kindness through a smile or raise a hand to acknowledge someone as you pass them by. Say “hi”. Reverse your own frown while doing you during your jail time, but do not forget others who wear a frown and need a friendly smile from time to time, to fill their heart and soul with warmth.
We all come from different walks of life. We have different reasons for offending, function differently and do jail time differently. But we are all women. We are women who carry the weight of the world and, perhaps, have been dealt cards that were unfair or unjust. Maybe the deck was missing the winning ace or a decent king or instead held a queen’s broken heart. Women who made mistakes, loved the wrong man, grew up in a tangled mess. However, as a woman, I know how strong we are and can be, but I also know I simply cannot do it all alone. None of us can.
We need to support one another: to heal that queen’s broken heart, to ensure that king (or any) never again uses his club to control, and to rise up to our own personal sparkling ace to beat our demons down. In the end, we are merely humans who seek the same thing: to be loved, to be happy and to be free from suffering.
So time is of the essence to spread more love, compassion and kindness. Remember: “never does kindness not help” and “no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever truly wasted.”
In the true jail phrase, I end with: “love ya!”
Kind regards, always in my heart and on my mind.
