True Cost of A Heart Shaped Locket

Doing his best to avoid the extremely thin and heavily stained mattress he sat quietly on the edge of the metal shelf which served as a bed. He was unsure of what the stains were but he knew they had to have been the remnants of various bodily fluids donated by the many, anonymous previous occupants of the eight by six foot cell. He thought that this jail had been around since before he was born and imagined the list of previous occupants was quite long. He had tried to just stand but gravity had gotten the better of him as his legs tired. He sat in the harsh light filtered by a metal grill over a dirty glass cover. He sat quietly with his arms folded across his stomach still holding his pants up. A guard had taken his belt along with his coat, hat, wallet, keys, and other possessions. They had given him soft slippers in place of his laced shoes. He sat there looking down at the slippers cringing from the thought of why as he listened to the faint sound of weeping in the distance.

He was staring across his fully awake nightmare at the tiled wall in front of where he sat. His mind had been a whirl with all that had happened and why he was in a cell. Now, he just stared at the tile trying to sit straight up. As the hours had past he had become very tired. Now he just wanted to stay awake and avoid having to lie on the mattress. He had alternated with standing or pacing his cell but those were only short term solutions at best. He had finally brought himself to using the cold, stainless steel toilet. But this mattress was a different situation. He could not believe anyone had ever been able to sleep on it as thin as it was but the stains told a different story. A guard had given him an amazingly thin sheet and a pillow in a case which was barely thicker or wider than a loosely folded sweatshirt. He just could not bring himself to touching the mattress.

“Hey, who are you?” came a voice from beyond the bars just to the left of his cell. It sounded as if the person was just on the other side of his cell’s cream colored, tiled wall.

He looked towards the open end of his cell and answered quietly in a not sure tone, “I’m Jon.” He actually welcomed a chance to stay awake.

“I’m Ben,” answered the voice. “What are you in for?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“We all are innocent. I already know that, but what are you really in here for?” insisted the voice.

“I am being serious,” insisted Jon, “I didn’t do anything. I guess I just didn’t want to play their games and they had other plans.”

“Games?” asked the faceless voice, “What do you mean games?”

“I just refused to do what they wanted me to,” answered Jon in a rather dry and tired voice.

“Hey, knock off the chatter!” barked the stern in command voice of a guard as he moved with a purpose down the hallway just outside the cells. “It’s lights out!”

Jon looked towards the bars of his cell as the guard stopped right outside. He was a tall strongly built man in a pressed uniform with razor sharp creases.

“You especially need to get your sleep. The judge is dealing with you first thing in the morning and you better have some damn good reasons for your actions.”

Jon said nothing. He gave no sign that the guards words had even registered. The guard just smirked with a little forced laugh moving his head slightly. Seeing no reaction from Jon he pivoted on his heels with military precision and headed down the hall from where he had come. Jon listened as his footsteps faded into the distance. He heard them stop and there was an audible flick of a large switch and the hall went dim as his cell’s light went dark. He sat in the dim light invading his space from the hall and wondered if he really was doing the right thing.

Lights came barging into the cell. Jon squinted as he rose. He had succumbed to the lure of sleep late in the night and resorted to using the bed. He had put on the sheet and placed the blanket over the sheet and had slept on top of it all. He felt stiff while getting up as his eyes strained to adjust to the sudden light. He stood up and started to move trying to work out the kinks. He was deciding whether or not he needed to use the toilet when he heard someone talking over the intercom that breakfast would be served in thirty minutes. He wondered what sort of hell that would bring. It came in the form of a bologna sandwich and a cup of water. Pangs of hunger encouraged him to eat as extreme fatigue had coaxed him into the bed. When he was cleaning up from breakfast the guard had informed him the judge would be ready to see him soon.

After having his belt and shoes returned which was a nice sense of regained dignity Jon was led to a large office which he had been told was the judge’s quarters. He was moved to a chair with a guard on either side of him. He sat down. Its ample cushion felt far more comfortable than had been the metal bed as his butt sank into it. He looked over the shelves of books. He guessed they were all legal books loaded with cases and decisions. He looked out the window to his left about ten steps away. He could see the town square. He saw it seemed like a very nice morning. He wished he was out there walking and enjoying the day.

“When the judge comes in you need to rise to your feet. Do you understand?” asked the guard to his left as Jon was day dreaming of being free.

When Jon had failed to answer the guard who had spoken grabbed his shoulder and demanded, “Do you understand?”

Jon without looking up just said, “Sure.”

He was sitting in total silence watching the people moving about in the square, out there in the land of the free when a door opened and in walked a well dressed lady. Without a word or any sign of emotion she walked over to a chair. She turned and sat down. As the woman emotionlessly pulled a small wheeled desk with a digital steno machine into position in front of her Jon realized she was the court reporter. He watched with curiosity as she positioned herself and the machine to a point which was comfortable for her. She turned it on and gave it a test run making sure it had plenty of paper.

He was thinking of how what was said here today would become part of a court record. He was wondering if it would eventually end up in a legal book on the shelves in the room. His attention turned back to the office and its shelves of legal precedents and he realized they were a major part of his defense. He continued to look about the office and the degrees and certificates which had been carefully matted, framed, and hung on the wall behind what he took to be the judge’s personal desk. He shook his head slowly as he thought what a need the judge must have to prove who he is.

He was still looking over the certificates when a man opened a door, entered, and commanded, “All rise,” in a strong, loud, confident, and well practiced voice.

Everyone but Jon and the court reporter rose to their feet. The man who had made the announcement stepped to the side with an extreme rehearsed precision. It had captivated Jon’s attention. A robed figure entered just as the announcer had made way. It was the same judge Jon had run into the day before. He was a tall slender man with razor stubble hair forming a thin brown cozy from one to the other side to the other side of his head bordering a hairless dome shining in the room’s light. He had a long slender face and thin metal framed glasses. He had come in with brisk determined steps only pausing to look at the still sitting Jon. The Judge just rolled his brown eyes slightly as he continued around to his chair behind his desk shaking his head in disbelief of Jon’s apparent impudence.

“You may be seated,” said the judge as he too found his seat behind the large dark wood desk. He took a few moments to look over some pages under a banker’s style green lamp.

As the judge perused his papers three other people had entered the office and found seats behind Jon. Jon had barely noticed them. He had seen them enter and walk past him but he didn’t note anything really important about them. They were just three more suits to Jon at that moment. When he had saw the judge start to read Jon’s mind wandered again to the town square and the beautiful day just beyond the window.

Jon was still in a quasi state of being in the office and wandering mentally in the square when the judge finally broke the silence. “I am holding this meeting today to determine if you truly are a conscientious objector as you claimed yesterday or if you are just someone trying to shirk your duties as a citizen of this wonderful nation.”

His words were spoken a strong, confident voice and were accented with the tapping of the court reporter on her machine. Jon looked up and made eye contact with his honor.

“You do still want to proceed without any representation?” asked the judge.

“Yes, that is fine. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“So you have said repeatedly yesterday. Did you enjoy your stay in my jail, Mr. Deacon?” inquired the judge maintaining eye contact with Jon.

Jon didn’t respond. He just stared blankly at the judge.

Acknowledging Jon’s response the judge continued, “I am going to warn you once. If you insist on giving such an ambiguous reply during the inquest you will see more of that cement and iron hotel. I want to hear real reasons for your objection. Do you understand me Mr. Deacon?”

Jon maintained his eye contact and said in a plain voice, “Yes, I understand you.”

“Good,” replied the judge looking back down at his papers and annotating a quick note. “I want you now to explain to me in your own words why you feel you shouldn’t be required to participate in this long existing and honorable duty.”

“I don’t believe there is anything such as criminal justice. There is just crime and punishment. I believe laws just exist to keep people in line, to maintain the game, so to say, so those on top may continue to benefit.”

“What?” asked the judge with an incredulous look on his face.

“Which part are you asking what about?” responded Jon.

“I want to hear you explain all of this to me right now, Mr. Deacon.”

“I can’t, not right now,” answered Jon.

“Why not?” demanded the judge in the same strong, confident, and calm voice while staring directly into Jon’s eyes.

“I don’t believe the prerequisites are in place to fully understand and appreciate what I have to say.”

“Well, imagine that those prerequisites are in place and give it your best try.”

“Okay, first of all, I don’t believe the system is fair or just.”

“Why so?”

“For one thing two days ago I was at my home working on things for which I have worked long and hard. Things I have saved up for to enjoy my life. It has been a life of working in various jobs including serving this nation in the military. I have paid my taxes on time and have paid all my debts in a timely manner. Just because you need me to do some dirty work for you all that has abruptly come to an end. I have been kidnapped, charged, imprisoned, violated, and fined because I refused to pull the trigger for you. How is that fair and just?”

“It is your duty as spelled out in the Constitution under the sixth Amendment. It is our responsibility to one another to ensure there are eligible candidates to create an impartial jury as guaranteed by that amendment.”

“I don’t remember in the sixth where it states that I am to be threatened into being part of a jury. I jus think it is so we get our hands dirty so it Okays your actions. I think it is just another way to keep us in line. Did you know that a member of the Nazi SS could decline duty at a death camp and not be penalized but I can’t do the same here? You’re the ones who demand that these people be tried and punished and why? How are these actions of yours justice?”

“First of all sir, no society can function without laws and secondly I think there is a significant difference between a death camp and a jury of your peers.”

Jon sighed a little, “You are basically telling me I must decide the fate of a person or I will be dealt with imprisonment, fines, and a record which could haunt me for life. In a death camp people who were incarcerated were given similar options. Either you do it to this person or the SS will do it to you. To me, that is not much of a difference in the mechanism. I must get my hands dirty with what you want to do with them or I get punished. Well, I hate to break this to you but I am already being punished and I haven’t done a thing to anyone as far as I know.”

“We are a nation of laws and justice must be served,” stated the judge feeling for what was really going on in Jon’s mind.

“To me laws are just crutches. Just like the Sixth Amendment, sure it is nice to have things in writing but they have become our decisions. You are following decisions which were created centuries ago. Yes, societies have rules and guidelines which help to guide the people to intended destinations but if you cannot tell that killing someone, invading their home, harming them, or taking what is theirs isn’t wrong and you need laws to tell people this is wrong? Then there is something truly wrong with your society. Ours is truly a sick society. We have become a nation of the scared ruled by fears.”

“Interesting, could you elaborate for me and everyone else in the room?”

“I will try. This trial for which I had been selected is about a young lady who has been accused of stealing a heart shaped locket which has been priced at over one thousand dollars. We are going to examine the evidence that is made available which does not include all the facts of the case and we will basically make our decision based on which lawyer does the better case of presenting their argument.”

“You are correct in some of your assumptions but what do you mean about all the facts not being presented?”

“We will just look at the incident but not at the whole picture and if she is found guilty you will make a decision which has already been made up for you through the laws that she must be punished by imprisonment of a certain amount of time and fined of a certain amount. She will also have a record which will make it hard for her in the future. But will we ever look at the whole picture to seek true justice? Of course we won’t. This is just a quick remedy to show others what will happen. You will sit there and decide according to the law what is allowed and what isn’t. We all have a chance to learn and grow but instead we will just resort to the same old formulaic thing.”

“What exactly do you mean about looking at the whole picture?”

Jon thought for a moment and the proceeded forward, “We live in a society which follows an economic model which teaches more is better. It is drummed into every inch of our being. We need to have the most of anything to be truly happy. We are taught to worship and look up to people who have more than most as successes. We are taught to want more because our economy needs this want, this demand to keep going. Want is necessary to drive the consumption which leads to people needing to work their lives away which drives the profit so a few on top can live a life of extreme luxury. More is thought to be desired but it can never be enough because if enough is ever reached then the want or demand evaporates and the whole system collapses. This young lady was taught to want more to the point that she might have strived for more the best way she could. But because it is alleged that she did not follow the path which is defined by the law and protects the interest of those on top she must be punished in a severe manner which may leave wanting even more because it will now be harder for her to do what is necessary to obtain things with in the rules of the game. Without more you are a failure in this society.”

“But this young lady could have worked and saved for that locket.”

“Yes, but there is another side to this story; in order for something to be of value it must be in short supply and in high demand. For example when farmers have far too much food that the price falls our government will buy it up, ship it overseas, or have the surplus destroyed to maintain a price which is meaningful to the farmers. Unions will purposely limit the amount of workers to maintain worker’s wages. This locket from what I have read about it has a couple of diamonds in it which push its value to a felony instead of a misdemeanor. Value of diamonds has been severely over inflated. Most people think of South Africa as the biggest source of diamonds and they are to some extent but it is not because they have an over abundance of diamonds. No, no sir, Russia has far more diamonds than South Africa; DeBeers just has an agreement with Russia to not produce that many diamonds to keep the price through the roof as well as jewelers telling you that you are not truly in love with your girlfriend unless you spend a couple months’ wages on a diamond. You need this restrictions and beliefs to keep the prices up. There could easily be enough food as well as enough diamonds but we live in a society twistingly addicted to material wealth which is all about never being enough.

“Another thing to consider is that in order to make a profit you must put less into something than what you will get out of it. So on one hand we are teaching people to want more and more and those who put less into something than what they get out of it are considered the successes. When you think about it people who are receiving handouts while sitting at home watching television are success stories. They are getting a lot while not giving much.

“Look, let me back up a little. Economics is the study of how a society fulfills its needs and wants with what is available. Imagine you are on an island alone. You have everything you need. What you choose to harvest and consume and how you do it is your economy. Other people show up and there is plenty to go around. The society and economy grow side by side helping to shape the other. They both adjust freely to meet the needs of all the individuals involved. This is a natural economy. If resources are over taxed then the society adjusts to keep things in balance and get back in sync. The individuals will adjust to get it working again. Basically it is the economy and society working together to get things in balance and it has the ability to do that. If they don’t there will be chaos and possible disasters so there is a real impetus to workout things. However, in our economy much is controlled and defined by the very few on top. This restrains the economy and the society from answering the needs of the individuals because the emphasis is placed on those who own the resources. It is a lot like a circus elephant. An elephant just wants to be an elephant and do what all elephants do. In the circus it is forced to be not what it wants and sometimes an elephant caught wanting to do as an elephant needs or wants and what it is forced to do goes berserk. Our economy and society is the same people want to do what people have done for centuries and our society and economy have a need to help the individual but it, like the elephant is restrained from doing so causing upheavals. Laws and punishment are made to keep these upheavals from going all out insane pachyderm. Crime is because our economy and society are not allowed to respond to the needs of the individual. If it was then there wouldn’t be people living a life of excess off the needs of others.”

“Interesting way to look at the situation,” responded the judge thoughtfully.

“I believe our whole society in an attempt to maintain the status quo creates victims such as this young lady and I believe the real answer to this could eliminate the need for jails. Just like the War on Drugs. We went after the supply instead of the demand and just made bigger billionaires out of the suppliers who survived. But going after the demand would have done wonders but it would have taken a real effort and commitment. There was more money to be made going after the supply and arresting the demand adding to the ruining of their lives and making it harder on them increasing their demand for the drugs to escape their reality. We are punishing victims of our system which are made victims by forcing our economy and society to take care of those in control instead of answering to all the individuals. Just think what a message it is that if that locket had been only $999 instead of $1,000? She would have been charged with a misdemeanor, perhaps a couple months, probation, and or a small fine? What you are saying it isn’t so bad if you rob a poor person of $500 but there will be hell to pay if you rob a more affluent person of $1,000? When is stealing just stealing? Why do we need to delineate like this? It is to tell people that they will fare better if they limit their stealing to low value items and don’t harm the extremely wealthy.

“No, I refuse to be a part of this. I don’t want to be part of this solution. I don’t think this system of relying on laws to limit and define us, giving us formulaic solutions with it just being a matter of you and the lawyers deciding which already formed solution to be applied to the situation. If this was a place to bounce ideas around and find true answers, real solutions then yes, I wouldn’t mind serving. But I see a society which is a situation of forcing everyone into a mold which keeps those on top, on top and keeps everything the same and predictable which creates these people and these situations then punishes them to send a message to all others that they need to stay in line. It’s like treating a dog poorly and abusively and then destroying the dog because it bit you in a fit of terror. I believe we can do much better in a society of cooperation instead of one where we are pitted against one another for profit. That’s all competition does is pits us against one another and creates the need to do what people believe is necessary to get what they have been taught to want, to need.”

When Jon finished the judge sat back in thought keeping his eyes connected to Jon’s. After a few moments of silence the judge motioned to the persons seated against the wall behind Jon to come forward. Forming a huddle about the desk they carried on a conversation which Jon could only hear as a mumble. It took about five minutes. Which at the completion the three individuals just exited the office. Jon followed them with his eyes as they left. When the door closed behind them Jon’s attention returned to the judge who was busy writing something.

Looking back up at Jon the judge said, “You really have given us a lot to think about today and I decided you are not in contempt of court as I had supposed yesterday. After hearing you talk and express your opinions I have decided to remand you to state hospital for observation and evaluation. I am doing this for your own good and truly believe it needs to be done.”

Jon was speechless as he saw the judge sign a couple of forms. After finishing signing he stood up and said, “We are adjourned.” He turned and quickly went out the door he had entered.

In disbelief Jon just looked out the window towards the square as he was guided by the two flanking guards out of the office.