When I went into the club some of the inmates were already waiting there. One of them was red with fury: “I’m going to bust them, how can this be, this shitty air-condition isn’t working. It’s so hot in here you could die, I’m going to get out of the meeting and call my lawyer, they haven’t heard the last of me.”
I sat down quietly and waited for the other prisoners to get into the room where we practice.
During the meeting we talked about pain and suffering and the difference between them. We talked about how we occupy ourselves with wanting to change what is, instead of being present with what is.
Towards the end of the meeting we sat again for a short mediation. Afterwards I asked how everybody were doing and what they had noticed during the meditation. That same prisoner said quietly: “I noticed the breeze from the air conditioner.”
I smiled at him. He smiled back and said: “There is a chance that this is going to change my life.”