The art deco design of the Golden Gate Bridge, the choppiness of the water, the clouds and fog, historic Fort Point built just prior to the Civil War, sailboats in the bay... just a few of the things I LOVE about San Fransisco!
While visiting San Fransisco a few weeks ago, we took a walking tour of the Golden Gate Bridge, something I highly recommend and it's free! Our group stopped mid-span and I was able to spend a few minutes admiring the view... the downtown area, the Oakland Bay Bridge and finally, Alcatraz.
It was from that perspective that I realized just how close Alcatraz is to downtown San Fransisco. And how far away at the same time.
The swift currents and freezing, often shark-infested, water of San Fransisco Bay made Alcatraz, aka the Rock, a perfect location for a prison. During its 29-year reign as a federal prison, Alcatraz housed 1576 prisoners. Quite a few inmates requested to be sent to Alcatraz because prisoners had a bit more "freedom" to roam around since "the Rock" was considered "escape-proof." They had an extensive library, outside areas, single person cells and much better food than most prisons.
From the outside looking in, Alcatraz probably looked pretty good, everything considered. But I wonder if once they got there, they looked at it differently.
Prisoners could see the "City by the Bay" - the buildings, the lights, the bridges carrying people here and there. They could watch the ships, both commercial and pleasure, come and go. Unlike prisoners at other, more remote, federal prisons wth high walls around their perimeters, the Alcatraz inmates could see freedom.
I wonder if it was that constant reminder of freedom that made 36 men try to escape despite nearly impossible odds. They wanted what the people living in San Fransisco had, or at least what it looked like they had. Of the 36 escapees, 23 were caught before making it off the island, six were shot and killed during the escape, two drowned, and five were missing and presumed drowned when their belongings were found floating in the bay.
As I was walking off the Golden Gate Bridge, back to the visitor's center, I pondered this idea of freedom. And decided the escapees were chasing a misguided notion of what real freedom is.
Sure, San Fransisco-ites have the ability to come and go as they please and can do pretty much whatever they want to.
But real freedom is being unchained from the bondage of sin through faith and trust in Christ alone. Perhaps the prisoners who had THAT freedom didn't feel a need to escape from the Rock.
Something to ponder...
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