Drove my children nuts…
Every time they’d start griping about somebody or pointing something out about another person I’d say, “Delta Yankee Oscar Tango.”
They knew, for I had drilled it into them, that this acronym meant “Do Your Own Time.”
DYOT was something drilled into my head when I was a guest of the state (in Oregon State Prison).
It’s a decision that needs to be made and acted on immediately upon arrival in a maximum security institution.
If you identify with one of the gangs, you end up not only doing your time, but theirs also. If you stay close to just one other inmate, you will do his time in addition to your own.
The guards and others are observing, if not interfering. If you run with a gang or a certain individual they note it…mentally and physically by including a note in your “jacket” (file) that will be seen by the parole board.
So the best way to live is by doing your “own time.”
Works on the street, also.
And it’s biblical…John 21.20-22:
So Peter turned around and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them, the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is the one that’s going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”
“If I want him to remain until I come,” Jesus answered, “what is that to you? As for you, follow me.”
So the Lord counseled Peter…and me…and you…to “do your own time.”
Don’t compare. Don’t envy. Don’t judge unrighteous judgment (you have to judge righteous judgment).
Delta Yankee Oscar Tango.
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