Kenneth Gourlay

Lessons Learned Kenneth Gourlay

This memoir doubles as a self-help book, illustrating how one incarcerated person was able to use the experience of prison as an educational tool. From the life-shattering moment of a public accusation, the mechanical, assembly-line experience of being processed into an institution, and the trauma of being brought into a foreign and hostile culture, being inducted into the criminal justice system was not a rehabilitative or transformative experience at all. Nonetheless, even the harshest of experiences can be used for introspection and developing character. In some cases, there is no other choice.

The book begins with the author being accused of a crime and follows his journey through arrest, trial, and prison. Each chapter sees a part of the experience as a lesson. By the end of the book, the lessons amount to a new way of being in the world, and a new framework for understanding what is truly important.

These lessons do not suggest a comprehensive or universal education we all should strive for; rather they are part of one person's life education. They served as a path of self-discovery and a deeper understanding of the world. They are offered to the reader as an opportunity to reflect on their own life in a way that may bring the reader closer to peace and harmony with the world.