BEST ADVICE FROM UNEXPECTED SOURCES

The best advice is words of wisdom from a trusted wise man, or wise woman.

If that’s what you’re looking for, keep looking. You’ll find it, or give up trying.

This is a post for just such quitters.

Quitters who figured it out on their own.

When we start in life we don’t have all the tools we need, tools that help.

In a sense we are prey to those who do have the life tools we want.

You know, successful people who enjoy living the life they’ve earned.

The best advice I’ve ever received came from the other side.

In 1986, the Rajneesh Investment Corporation sold the building to Multnomah County, which used it as a work-release center for county offenders until 2003.

We had a big museum show in Portland to unload and set up. It came in huge crates on semi trucks and trailers.

The company had connections for free labor at the work release center that was the old Martha Washington.

I’d walk over in the morning and sign a bunch of guys out for the walk back to the Park Blocks. Just a Portland Oregon walk in the park with me and the boys.

We’d unload and unpack all day. It was a good crew who had lost their way and ended up on the other side.

It was easy to forget they were on the equivalent of a chain gang, prisoners loaned out, until I walked them back.

They went from the good natured give and take of guys moving big stuff, to prisoners with a number.

The return trip was a heartache every time

Funny, sassy, guys turned into mute automatons once inside the door of their work release.

I talked to a guard on the way out.

– These guys really change when the come back.

– I hope so. They are here after doing well in jail. They could go back if things don’t work out the way they’re supposed to.

– So their transformation is a good thing.

– They came here after getting arrested and sentenced. These aren’t bad men, but they did stupid things. If they were bad men they wouldn’t be here. But they know the drill.

– And they all want to get out.

– That’s the drill.

– How do they do that?

– By making better choices than the ones that got them in here.

– So it’s all about choice?

– That’s what drives every man and woman in America. Make the right choice and live a good life; make the wrong choice and you’ll be living here.

– All the guys chose to work with me?

– After the first day we’ve got a list of others who want to work with you. The guys came back with good reviews.

– Good reviews?

– They said you treated them right. Like men instead of convicts.

– That’s good to know. I was worried about them escaping.

– Those aren’t the guys who transition here.

– Is there anything else I need to know about the group?

– My best advice is to keep doing it the way you’re doing. They’ve bonded with you. Don’t screw it up.

– Right. So, I’ll see you in the morning. Same guys?

Best advice to stay out of jail

If something doesn’t belong to you, leave it alone.

Don’t start thinking how much you want something and how to get it right away.

For free.

That’s not how it works.

If you want something, make a plan, talk about it. Write it down.

Work for it, save for it, and on that special day, bring it home.

Like a car.

If you see a car with the keys in the ignition, it’s not an invitation to take a spin.

Walk. Away.

If you see a job you’d love to do, but lack the qualifications, get to work.

For example, I wanted to do something that’s only done in Oregon. I’d already worked in a saw mill and a fish packing plant, already worked for a school district and a body shop, already worked in medicine and money.

What could be more Oregon than the Oregon Historical Society? I started as a museum guard, scoped out the future possibilities, and applied myself. I would be a Curator of Collections, one of the guys who surveyed the entire museum collection for gaps.

I got a history degree up the street from Portland State and bumped up to Collections Manager.

In that role I toured with a traveling exhibit, created history presentations for classrooms, and did research on the pieces the collection contained as well as pieces it needed.

It was the best home state job for an Oregon boy ambitious to know more about everything.

What is the best advice for staying out of jail?

Better education. The guys on my chain gang all thought they could get away with their crime.

They fucked around and found out.

After seeing their face of freedom change to jail face when I signed them back in, the message was never more clear.

Find out more information on the legal system if you want to be a criminal mastermind.

Maybe try law school?