A Bad Rep

I've gone on and on before about the bad rep we have with the general public. They don't see us as "Corrections Officers", they see us as "Prison Guards". And as a general rule we are:

1. Stupid

2. Cruel

3. Corrupt

I get that. It's the way the mainstream media has us branded.

If I were stupid and cruel and I wouldn't have all this stress and angst and I would be having alot more fun. I'd stomp about and bust heads and make things make crunchy noises and have the best fun. And if I was corrupt I'd be making a hell of a lot more money than I am, for sure.

I don't have a college degree in anything. But if you gave me two weeks with the books I could teach a class in anything except for some of the "hard" sciences like higher math or chemistry or engineering. I've taught classes in English Lit and Philosophy and Anthropology and Creative Writing. If I could afford it, I think I could spend the rest of my life in college and never get tired of it or finished.

I think I have a pretty good grasp of the english language and I can understand some german, french, yiddish, russian and smatterings of japanese and latin.

I've written screenplays and a couple of short stories and am slowly working on a novel. I've written reams of poetry and even a few songs, but I don't know how to write music.

I can build things with my hands and even though I tend to overengineer things, they usually work for what I built them for. I built all the beds my kids slept in and they survived the abuse that teenagers gave them.

I'm not just blowing my own horn here. There's a point to this.

I heard that one of own staff stated to another "I'm surprised. I thought people who worked here would be of a lower level of intelligence."

One of ours said that.

That just frosts the crap out of me.

I'm glad I never liked him from the start. Jerk.