This world, and this man’s upbringing, made it, too hard, for him, to finally SET his own life right, and it’d taken him, a very long time, to finally think about, changing his own behaviors, for the better, translated…
If Rong wasn’t in prison, then, he’s definitely on the path there.
Rong was the one that everybody made fun of in her/his spare time, as the subject of him came up, everybody would stop laughing, and, turn their heads, saw that Rong was, not far off from where they are, looking at everybody, with that awkward smile on his face.
Rong is an elderly inmate, with close to thirty years of “seniority”, but, he’s, not yet forty-five. Which meant, that from his schooling years, he’d started, receiving his education from the correctional facilities set up by the country. But, do the systems, cranked out by the nation, really fitted, to Rong’s learning needs?
Back in his childhood, Rong’s father abandoned his family, his mother committed suicide by swallowing the pills, and so, he can, only live with his maternal grandmother. He’d had a lonely path growing up, and it would be, normal, that he’d, ended up with, the bumps and bruises from life, and, often, when someone called him “an unwanted child”, it’d, made him react violently.
imprisoned…not my photograph…
On that day, six, seven third-year middle school older schoolmates took the baseball bats, and threatened him using cuss words, and, an unfortunate student, started hovering himself up at the corner, continually, trembling. As Rong who’s in middle school saw this, he’d, turned the scene, into a good example of “What-not-to-Do”, turned himself, into what people hated the most, he’d, modeled after the group’s bad behaviors, and became, an “unwanted child” that nobody DARED looking down on.
After he was, used to using violence to get what he wanted, Long finally got sentenced to two years in juvenile detention, after his release, he’d, injured someone with a knife, received another four years eight months. And still, he had, yet to learn his lessons, he’d, turned the knowledge he’d gathered from other criminals in the prison systems as knowledge. During his time of entering in and out of prison, his life became, even off track, theft, drug abuse, robbery, fraud………he’d done it all. You can say, that as he’d opened up his eyes, he’d started, living a life of criminal behaviors, and that made him a “guest”, in all the prisons across all of Taiwan.
a life of crimes, now, it’d, caught up with you…
And now, Rong is taking the exams for the sake of becoming certified, he’s, currently studying the books on computers. Is Rong turning around now? I really don’t know, I too, have the same doubts as he. Is the world, ill-adapted for us? Or, are we, misfitted into, this world? Are we, naturally, fitted into the prisons, or, are the prisons, built, specially, for us?
I really can’t tell, but I do know this, I know, that Rong and I, both want to set our lives straight, or maybe, unless, something’s changed in this world, otherwise, there would be, more like Rong, continually, entering and exiting the prisons their whole lives, simply because, the society makes it too hard, to live our lives right!
And so, the man this person described, his life is made by nurture, instead of nature, and, maybe, his nature wasn’t strong enough, that was why he was, too easily influenced by the external environments, and, ever since that very FIRST wrong deed he’d done, his life is set, to keep on, going down, spiraling downward, and finally, after being in prison for god knows how long, he’d, started, turning his life around, and I truly hope, that it won’t be, too late for him, and, this world DOES, make it too hard, for those who want to change, to live their lives the right way.
Life, the Obstacle Course 