The Best Jail in the World.

I know that as I'm getting older I'm turning into a really frightening mix of Sister Mary Patrick and Pollyanna. I can understand how annoying this must be so I try to keep it in check, and to understand that we're not all wired the same way. I just like to accentuate the positive, as the song says, but this means I can get a bit tired of whining, as I've mentioned before.

I'm full of sympathy and compassion for those who have reason to be upset, and also for those whose mood is because of depression. But pointless endless grumping is a different story.
Many prisoners, in my experience, are masters in the art of whining, groaning, moaning and grumping. They sometimes have little or no insight into the perspective of their victims, or indeed of their families. They can be just astonishingly selfish sometimes, and are very quick to complain about the slightest infringement of their perceived rights. I generalise, of course, but I am describing something which is undoubtedly endemic in the prisoner population.

I'm sure you can imagine, therefore, how surprising and refreshing it was last night when a prisoner in a small group meeting suddenly said, in all sincerity, "I think this is probably the best prison in the world"! Made me think of Carlsberg... And, no, he's not on drugs.