Paris is going to jail. Thank God…at least that is what she should be doing.
First the social policy picture. Paris Hilton will now be just one of the 7 million Americans who are incarcerated or on probation or parole. When she enters that jail she will be just another number in the statistics that give America the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world – 1 in every 32 people. I doubt that this will stick to many people’s memories, however. It is just a bit too overwhelming to grasp let alone know what to do with.
Now the personal point – God is sending Paris to jail in hopes of getting better acquainted.
God? Paris? Jail? Yes. Since I believe that God is the author of our lives, it makes sense that God would be actively at work in Paris’ life – to the point that he would allow her (or put her) in jail…for her own good.
The great Quaker writer and theologian Richard Foster begins his classic book, The Celebration of Discipline, this way, “Superficiality is the curse of our age…. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.” By “deep people,” Foster means people who have explored “the inner caverns of the spiritual realm.”
Maybe I am wrong but I am guessing that Paris hasn’t spent all that much time in those inner caverns. Jail is a great place to start. Her sentence, as it stands now, is for 45 days. A lot can happen in that period of time. Consider:
- The Flood of Noah lasted for forty days.
- Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai, getting the Commandments.
- The spies from the Exodus spent forty days in Canaan.
- Ninevah was allowed forty days to repent.
- Elijah and Jesus both fasted for forty days.
- Jesus spent forty days on earth after the resurrection.
Paris gets another five days beyond 40. Imagine the possibilities. When she walks into that jail without a lawyer or a publicist or her dog; when she does her work alongside her fellow offenders; when she goes to sleep at night, she will have those crisis moments that have drawn people into deep places. And all along, God will be there for her to talk to if she wants.
In a way Paris is to be envied. She is to be envied not because she will be in jail but because that time in jail will afford her a unique opportunity to reflect and to change. Jail will also give her the chance to read if she would like. So to aid her journey, a reading list:
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
For finding a way deep into the soul
Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters : Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon by N.T. (Tom) Wright
For an example of how time in jail can change the world.
Letters from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ditto
The Confessions by St. Augustine
For the greatest spiritual memoir ever
Crossing the Threshold of Hope by Pope John Paul II
A reminder that God has given every person dignity, something that Paris, for all her glamour, may have forgotten about herself.
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
Because it is a beautiful look at childhood wonder, adventure and much, much more
Paris has a choice even now. Fight jail or embrace it and what she might learn there. Embrace it Paris, it could change your life and deep down I am guessing you know you want your life changed.
posted May 7, 2007 at 6:55 pm
One of the things that bothers me is our joyful exuberance over how terrible and brutal jail is. There is a place where we allow brutal rape to happen and nobody pays attention, gangs to form around race and that’s just fine, routine intimidation, assault, brutality and a failure to regard others as human beings. Entire rural communities revolve around the prison industry. There is no other way to earn a living except to be a guard. Think of the implications of such a community. I would recommend “The Lucifer Effect” – a recent book about the evil that occurs when there are guards and prisoners. The Court TV Channel, Fox News, and MSNBC have created an atmosphere where we can think of some as less than human. Now to Paris – this is a child who dresses up and plays adult. She is so undeveloped emotionally and socially – I do not know if jail can be anything but a destruction of an already frail spirit. She does not have the intellectual capacity to read much of anything and is apparently unable to figure out anything without “her people”. How sad. I will pray for this young woman in hopes that she meets someone who is real in jail. She has not done so in life so far.
posted May 8, 2007 at 1:52 am
We should all hope to meet Paul and Silas in prison. How interesting that its the jailer who receives compassion and salvation. The lesson is similar in Acts 16 as in Matthew 25. It is we, the free, safe, and protected under the law who most need to change. Along those lines, I wonder how people would respond if you wrote this post about those imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay without trial rather than Paris Hilton.
posted May 8, 2007 at 2:52 am
“The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson Because it is a beautiful look at childhood wonder, adventure and much, much more.” Wow. This is the first thing you’ve written that I really, truly, totally agree with. She could afford the $150. God bless.
posted May 8, 2007 at 4:00 am
Joey – Well, if you stick around long enough there is a reward for you. I think it may be my answer to the one book you could have on a desert island (even though it is several books in a binder). David
posted May 8, 2007 at 4:13 am
You make a good point – God can do a lot in 40 days (or 45, in this case). It seems the Jesus-ey thing to do to hope this marks some sort of turning point for Paris, rather than another funny episode in a rather empty life. Thanks for giving me a way into hoping for something better for her…it’s a nice alternative to simply rolling my eyes. Jesus, from what I can tell from the Gospels, rarely rolled his eyes…
posted May 8, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Paris Hilton was innocent. Even if guilty, the sentence is heavy handed. America has gone insane incarcerating people for the most minor offenses. Jail is a place for dehumanizing people. It says something about a country, that we’re so willing to humiliate and dehumanize so many people. It’s part of the self righteousness attitude, that you’re so good, that you will never go to jail. It’s you versus them. A kind of pride. There’s a Haman surprise, from Esther, waiting for those who enjoy seeing someone incarcerated. The gallows built for others, in end gets used on the person building the gallows.
posted May 8, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Terrific post that shows that God gives us so many chances to turn our lives around if we only trust and believe in Him! He can take those lowpoints in our lives and make them higpoints. Thanks for the additional reading references! Thanks be to God for Grace and Mercy!
posted May 8, 2007 at 10:30 pm
George Smith: How is it a minor crime to drive drunk? When she runs into your mother, daughter, friend, etc, and kill them while she’s drunk, then we’ll see what you say. And then to drive on a suspended license TWICE within a 30 day period. Doesn’t seem very minor to me. She is fortunate she got probation the first time for her DUI, I have friends who have spent time in jail for one offense.I don’t think its heavy handed at all, I think justice is finally being served!
posted May 9, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Paris as asked Gov Arnold ( I cannot spell his last name) for a pardon. I would like to know where she gets off with that. If it where me, they would just put me in jail and that would be it. These stars, hire big time lawyers and thing they do not have to pay the price for what they do wrong. Paris is not different than anyone else and she breakes the law she pays the price just like anyone else would
posted May 12, 2007 at 2:05 pm
I am really struggling with your logic here… are you saying that God wants Paris Hilton in jail? Are you also saying that jail is an excellent place to find God, and that 45 days is symbolically a good length of time to really find Jesus? Who else does God want in jail? Personally I think it’s a shame he was more interested in getting Paris locked up than the Zodiac killer or Adolf Hitler. This obtuse, blinkered view is inherent in the Christian view of the world, where cause and effect are divorced of reality. Imagining the hand of a sentient, all-powerful supernatural God taking a hand in the direction of world media events, and then using this supposition to support an individual’s petty obsessions or moral standpoint is dangerous. If God is so interested in Paris Hilton, why wasn’t he more interested in Ted Bundy, or the Asian Tsunami? I think that it is far more likely he ins’t interested in any of us.