Felon’s Alphabet: C
If criminals walked around with thought bubbles the way cartoon characters do, their thoughts would often read: “I do what I want, when I want, to whomever I want, to get what I want, because I want to.” Because let’s face it, the criminal mind is selfish, self-absorbed and narrow minded.
“C” is for criminal thinking. Let us establish first, that there can be no criminal behavior without criminal thinking. From petty theft to mass murder, behind every criminal act there was a criminal thought. That means if you don’t think it, you won’t do it. Are you beginning to see just how powerful your thoughts are?
So, having thought it, and thought about it, just how is it that one is able to “make it OK” in their mind to behave criminally? While thinking criminally, an individuals’ focus remains only on themselves – they don’t care about how their behavior affects others. That is the lack of empathy. On the opposite end of the criminal thinking spectrum, the criminal mind will simply deny doing the deed. “It wasn’t even me.” How many times have we heard that? That is the lack of accountability.
Let us explore together the anatomy of a crime.
The crime in question is: shoplifting baby formula from Walmart. “I stole the baby formula because I want to feed my hungry baby, who needs it, and so what? It’s not like Walmart will even miss it. It’s only one container, and besides everyone else steals too, why should I be labelled a criminal because my baby is hungry. I mean I can’t even get a job, no one will hire me because I’m an ex-felon. This whole probation thing is just another set up, what do they expect, I’m doing my best, and besides I didn’t even really do anything”.
Clearly, we pump ourselves up into behaving criminally, when we could choose to talk ourselves out of it. We know, if nothing else, that our thoughts have immense powers and if harnessed appropriately and effectively – even healing powers.
With this knowledge comes the responsibility to use that knowledge for the betterment of, if not humankind, then at least, for those of us incarcerated here. Let us begin our journey out of criminal thinking together.
