Greetings from Shreya Jain 🙂. A CA final student. These days may be difficult for some of you as one as to stay indoors. Well for CAs it’s very common because we have been practicing quarantine since the day we joined CA ( Especially 5 months study leave).
Well the reason for writing my first post is this book which i came across ‘SOLITARY’ which i read as my exams got delayed. It was on Barack Obama’s list of his favourite books of 2019.
Talking about the book, Albert Woodfox served for more than 40 years in solitary confinement in the infamous and brutual Angola prison in Louisiana. His early life was nothing but a series of petty crimes- in and out of jail. Till he was convicted for an armed robbery and sent to Angola prison, He was put into solitary confinement for 23 hours a day in a 6 by 9 feet cell for more than 4 decades. He instead of breaking down in prison transform himself and develops qualities and character that very few people have. His story is about how much a human being can endure and how LIMITLESS HUMAN SPIRIT can be.
He writes ( in that 6 by 9 cell) I often thought of myself in free world having dinner with family, doing normal stuffs. In his book he adds I learned that dreams and fantasies are bound by physical limitations because THERE ARE NO LIMITATIONS OF THE MIND OR THE IMAGINATION. He used that space to build strong moral character and principles and a code of conduct. He further adds ” I used that space for everything other than what my captors intended it to be.”
I also read that even Isaac Newton had to work from due to temporarily closed down of university and he considers it to be most productive periods of his life and used that time to develop theories on Calculus, Gravity.
If Woodfox can walk out of solitary confinement after more than 40 years with a character and Isaac Newton can develop his theories. Being inside home for a few days should not then be a big deal!..
Judith 