Institutionalized

Brooks was in Shawshank Prison for 50 years. An important, educated man and a librarian before Andy Dufresne came in. He did not want to leave the place. His parole came.

The parole board got him a house and a job to live. He was so old that he saw an automobile long before he was a kid, now they were everywhere. He came to know that the world went and got itself in a big damn hurry. He did not like his job because his superintendent always scolded him, his manager didn't like him neither did he, his hands hurt while doing work, he had troubles crossing the roads, he could barely sleep at night and had bad dreams and sometimes he took time to remember where he was. He didn't like it there. He had a crow, Jake, which he brought up since its birth and when he used to feed the birds he missed him and thought if Jake someday would show up and say hello. He wanted the freedom and he decided to leave. He took a blade and wrote on the ceiling of his room; ‘Brooks was here’ and the table fell off. He was freed.

Brooks tried to commit a crime to stay there by threatening everyone that he would kill Heywood but he would not do it that everyone knew. Everyone thought why he would do that but Red understood what had happened to him. He knew Brooks was Institutionalized. Brooks was an important man there and outside he was nothing and probably he wouldn't even get himself a library card. The walls of the Shawshank were funny. First you hate them, then you get use to them and then so they get you depend on them. That’s Institutionalized.

The case with life is exactly the same. We are all Brooks here. When we are born we cry, then we get use to this rapidly changing world we used to hate at first and then at the time of our deaths we are afraid and don’t want to leave at all. We all are being Institutionalized. We all are Brooks but we should not let world threaten us and make us write on the ceiling for the freedom.

Inspired By: The Shawshank Redemption (1994)