"First, Do No Harm"

   A few days back, after visiting a friend over in prison, I wrote a piece about my experience there and posted it on this site. It is here:

http://walkinganewpath-pilgrim.blogspot.com/2014/11/security-whose-and-how.html

   Thinking that my friend would enjoy reading my reflections on his "home" over there, I made a copy and sent it off to him in the mail.

   Then yesterday, there are two letters in the mailbox. One from the prison officials returning my copy of the blog post, and another from the friend advising me of the situation.

   It seems that the deputy warden got ahold of the correspondence, I guess they open all the mail before it is delivered, and took offense to what I had written in the blog. By sending a copy on to the inmate, the assumption was made that I was giving information on visiting procedures that might allow an inmate to escape.

   Of course that was not my intent. In fact, I never even considered that possibility at all. All I wanted to do was to tell him what being in that prison felt like to me on that day. I never dreamed that what I wrote could be a potential problem to him. Just this little post, little in my opinion, might have triggered disciplinary actions, ones that could impact his standing in that place. Not for me were problems a possibility, but for the man who had no part in the act.

   When I got over my shock at the fact that the officials would read so much into that "innocent" post, I realized I had not thought out very well my actions in sending it to him in the mail. I had known that he would never see it on the blog site as they have no access to the Internet, so snail mail was the only way I could think of to tell my thoughts. Copying the post and printing it out for him seemed to be the best way.

   My friend wrote, telling me of the official's reprimand he received because of my actions, but more forcefully stating that I don't need to do that sort of thing again.

   In other words "Think before you act".

   While I was thinking of that this morning, the words of the Hippocratic Oath, "First do no harm", came to mind. (Researching that quote on line, I find that it is really not in the Oath, but comes from a later time period, but it does convey meaning for me in the situation.)

   Words have a tremendous potential for good or for ill, many times unintended consequences, as I found out.

   I thought also of this verse in Psalms:

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer."

   Think, Don, Think!

   Too many words, too little thinking and discretion.

   First, do no harm...