Happy New Year’s Eve….When I worked at the state prison 22 years ago I learned something about the men in prison that I find applies to me now.  They were “protected” from depressing events back home, and were frustrated about knowing really what was going on with their family and friends.

They couldn’t be sure whether family members had died, whether family had sprung divorces,  gone bankrupt, etc.   While in my case that’s a little extreme,  I’m still “protected” from  potentially troubling news.  As a result, I feel a little disempowered as a person.

Horror of horrors, I find myself with a tendency to “protect”  elderly friends– who have moved away– from the obituaries and other news of the passing of  mutual friends.  I have to remember that although everyone ages, at least some of us would still like to be trusted with facts.  To be treated otherwise is to feel discounted and truly disempowered. Remember how they used to keep the news– that oneself was terminal or in fact dying– from patients?

The truth conveys respect.  And no, I haven’t been shafted.  I just recalled a memory of 22 years ago.