GORILLAS

WEEK 3: "PERCEPTION". Last week I cried for them. It was a vague kind of feeling, I want to say it was like a longing. I couldn't quite attribute the sadness to any one prisoner or any one story. My heart ached- Today was the day of the gorilla movie. This is a psychological test, shown in a dark video, where 2 basketball teams line up, one dressed all in white, the other in black. The observers are instructed to count the number of times the white team passes the ball. In the middle of complicated ball passing, a gorilla walks through the middle of the court. Something like 90% of all people don't see the gorilla. I have shown this video to Buddhist monks, who have to watch it over and over again to see the gorilla. Sometimes even having seen it, they don't see it the next time. They always get the number of times the ball was passed right, however. The prisoners saw the gorilla the first time. Every one of them. Antonio was cackling behind his hand about something. I was astounded, and asked, "What's so funny"? He told me with an ironic grin, "Any petty pick -pocketer knows that old trick..you tell people to watch something, meanwhile you steal their wallet." Leaving the prison I counted the steps going down to the patio. 34. 55 steps to cross the patio and reach the front guard station? Why was I doing this? It seemed like a prison behavior. I no longer got lost. And I was aquiring some skills here.