"Imprisoned to Grow"

The book, “The Birdman of Alcatraz” (1955) and subsequent movie by the same title, illustrates the limitless possibilities of the human spirit to respond positively to negative circumstance.

The focal character, Robert Stroud, who was imprisoned for the last 54 years of his life (42 years in solitary confinement—longer than any other man in the history of the United States penal system), was able to redirect his bitterness to a positive contribution.  It began with his tending the needs of a nest of three sparrows he found in the prison exercise yard and concluded with his becoming a world-renowned authority on bird diseases and authoring at least two books on that subject.

Of course, it wasn’t Stroud’s intention to become an authority on bird diseases, rather one thing just led to another.  And now bird fanciers everywhere are in his debt.

Had Stroud never experienced this confinement chances are extremely good he’d have never known such heights of achievement for he had been an unlearned man and possibly would have continued that way.

You may not be physically imprisoned, but you feel yourself severely constricted in other ways.  Illness, financial limitations, family obligations, work requirements, etc., all are ways you can feel hemmed in.  If you’ll see it, your situation can yield great potential for personal growth.  Begin by asking, “How can I use this situation for something positive?”  To ask the question is to speed the answer on the way.  It now remains for you to trust a hidden ally, your sub-conscious, to come to your rescue and begin to pose a solution.

So powerful and pervasive may be the solution posed it may become the dominant force in your life and start you off in a new and rewarding direction.  But there’s more.

Yes, Stroud, found “a way out” of his immediate distress, which was the loneliness of solitary confinement, but he never found a way out of the prison system, which he might have were it not for the negatives he kept bringing into his circumstance by his actions.

Enter Old Testament Joseph 

By contrast, the Biblical, Old Testament character Joseph was thrown “into prison” as it were, but not one of his own making.  His imprisonment in Egypt was the result of betrayal by his blood brothers who sold him as a slave.  There was no bitterness.  He simply set about learning all he could about his circumstance and was made “ruler” over the household (Potiphar’s) where he was actually a slave.

More betrayal!  Potiphar’s wife had sexual designs on Joseph and once when the circumstance was just right pressed her desires upon Joseph so overtly and extremely there was no recourse for him but to flee.  Because the household was empty but for the two of them, there was none to counter the witness of this frustrated wife who said in effect, “He tried to rape me.”

This charge resulted in Joseph’s being thrown into yet a more repressive circumstance, even a royal dungeon.  Still, Joseph exhibited no bitterness and set about learning all he could in that environment.  Soon, he was elevated over all the other highly placed prisoners in Pharaoh’s prison.

In time Joseph’s storied ability to interpret dreams was needed by Pharaoh who learned of Joseph’s ability from one of his courtiers who had been in prison with Joseph.  The rest is celebrated history.  From prison Joseph is catapulted to the No. 2 spot, directly under Pharaoh, in the most powerful nation on earth at that time.

Robert Stroud “woke up” in prison and made some positive contributions to the world of ornithology, but never got out.  Joseph, unlike Stroud, was falsely accused but kept his eye on God and this made all the difference.  I believe God was working in Robert Stroud’s life but he never yielded to such overtures as God would have been making to him. 

Stroud found a way to deal with a certain amount of bitterness, but was more or less always at war with the prison system.  Joseph, continued to look to God and whatever betrayal he experienced, he simply turned over to God and finally the prison could hold him no longer.  Which will it be?