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One Day in my Life

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Book Review: One Day In My Life

OT 02/25/02 05:30

Feb 25, 2002 (M2 Best Books via COMTEX) --

'One Day in My Life' documents a day in late winter, 1979, in which Irish
Republican activist Bobby Sands endures the horrors and humiliations of life in Long
Kesh prison. Bobby Sands was one of many Blanket Men - so- called because they
refused to succumb to being classed as criminals, and so wore blankets instead of
prison uniform - who embarked on numerous protests in an attempt to sway the
attitudes and practices of the British authorities in Ireland.

Every page of this book, from front to back cover, is instilled with
contentious political ire. As this reviewer is a British citizen, I am perhaps
not best placed to fully evaluate the motivations and morality of an Irish
Republican. From the foreword by Gerry Adams onwards, the question invoked in
my mind time and time again was whether the treatment of Bobby Sands and his
fellow Blanket Men was a crime against human decency committed in my name, or a
terrible means to a justifiable end - that is to protect British citizens against the
threat of domestic terrorism. As Bobby Sands and three other men shared a sentence of
eighty-four years for being found in possession of a solitary hand gun, it seems that
the punishment meted out to Bobby Sands was inordinately huge.

Better men than I have raged in blind conviction for both sides of that
argument, and the one thing I am certain of in regard to that issue is that it
will not be answered in the course of a book review. With that in mind I
believe the best way to approach this book is by viewing it as a personal
account of one man's struggle to survive in a hellish existence.

Bobby Sands, alike with the rest of the Blanket-Men, could have extricated
himself from much of the hardship he endured if he were to renounce his claims
that he was a political prisoner and allow himself to be criminalised. This, he and

many others refused to do, and the courage they had in their own convictions -
irrespective of what exactly those beliefs were - is a staggering example of the
strength of man's will.

This document was written on toilet paper using a biro pen refill, and was
concealed within Bobby Sands' own body. During the course of the book it is
revealed that there was but one pencil and one pen refill which was passed man
to man around the entire block. The scarcity of toilet paper is also recounted. These
two facts alone - probably the two tamest indications of the quality of life inside
the H-blocks that could be found in 'One Day in My Life', illustrate the fact that
this book is a labour. Yet no matter how difficult and harrowing it becomes to read
the reader feels duty bound to continue as the very process of recording this
information must have been infinitely more torturous for the author.

The day recounted in 'One Day in My Life' is a squalid microcosm of everything
we fear about being incarcerated. Men are starved, routinely beaten, verbally
and physically abused, and made to live in enforced conditions of filth - with
human waste, mouldy food and congealed rubbish lining the walls and floors of
their unheated cells. Surely even the staunchest advocate of the Thatcherite
British government of the late 1970's would have to concede that the treatment
of the men in the H-blocks - be they political prisoners of war or merely
criminals - was an offence against human decency, in fact an offence against
humanity itself. The Blanket Men were not merely robbed of their liberty, they
were there to be broken by the authorities who knew that to break the will of
the Blanket Men would crush the spirits of their countless supporters in both
Ireland and the United Kingdom. But they would not be broken.

In the introduction to this book a quote from the original edition is
reprinted. Sean MacBride - co-founder of Amnesty International and Nobel Peace
Prize winner - states that 'the majority of ordinary decent people in England
are not really interested in what happens in Ireland'. That was also true of
this reviewer until I read 'One Day in My Life'.

Perhaps the worst aspect of Bobby Sands' recounting of his prison day is that
there is no respite for either him or the reader. The realisation that the day
he has recorded is in fact a typical one for the inmates of the H-block is a
terrible moment and one which makes it hard for the reader to detach this story of
human courage and survival from its political roots. For all Bobby Sands is left with
at the end of the day is the hope - in fact the unwavering belief - that as he says
'our day will come'.

The events which are documented in this book seem like they occurred in some
strange land in a dim and distant uncivilised age. In fact they occurred just
over two decades ago, and no doubt there are people today who are living the
same nightmare that Bobby Sands endured. Read this book as a humanitarian
warning of what crimes were and - are still are - being perpetrated by the
governments of the world in the names of their citizens.

CONCLUSION: 'One Day in My Life' is a seemingly hopeless tale which manages to
leave its lone moment of respite to the very last moment - when we have nothing left
to us but our humanity, and when even that is stolen away our will still remains...

This book brings home the tragedy of the Statelet of Northern Ireland. My main impression after reading it was that the British Government are guilty of appaling crimes and a total lack of respect for human rights. The people of Britain are disgusted with the justice systems of many 'barbaric' nations, this book shows that the British justice system is guilty of crimes which equal, if not surpass, those perpetrated by any other nation. It is difficult to read this book without shedding a tear, not only for Bobby Sands, but for the countless others who have fallen victim to British 'Justice'.

Almost certainly the most important book of my lifetime. "One Day In My Life" brings the horror and hell of Long Kesh back into the front lines. This short book will bring readers to their knees. As important as "Night" by Eli Weisel to the Holocaust, Bobby Sands is to the Irish troubles. Even if you're not involved or agree with the struggle of the I.R.A. in Northern Ireland, please read this book!
[...]

This short book is entitled "One Day in My Life," and it is exactly that-- one day, from waking to trying to sleep, in the H-Block prison of Long Kesh. Sands chronicles the reality of his life plainly: the food (when the prisoners get it), the personalities of the abusive prison guards, the (completely unprompted) torture, and even a short visit from his family. While his anger is continuously simmering under the surface of the text, the most prominent feeling conveyed is endurance: the routine of horror he must endure for his cause is worth it, because he knows that what is right must eventually prevail. And it will, in no small part because of this ordinary man who found in himself extraordinary passion and dedication.

This book is perfect for those who want to put a human face to Ireland's "troubles," or anyone who admires the underdog (after all, its background is oppressed people in a small, poor country against one of the most powerful nations on Earth). The style is completely accessible to any reader, and the content would not be inappropriate for mature middle-schoolers.

What better way to get into the mind of a leader and his times than to read his first hand account? While Bobby undoubtedly knew that his writings would be published, one does not get the feeling that he was speaking to an audience larger than his own conscience. His incarceration is described in all of its absurdity and horror. His inhumane, unbearable situation is one that he entered and maintained by his own free will for a period of years. His suffering was all a naive waste, in most ways, as the absence of equal intensity by Gerry Adams and crew insured that he would waste away and die without accomplishing any of his objectives. If Bobby only knew what the future reader would know, he may have ended his suffering in a different manner.

Any reader will be able to picture Bobby's circumstances in his mind's eye as the prose is well-detailed. He will also see a bit of Bobby's spirit and relate to him on a very human level. It is worth the read for anyone who needs to know more about Bobby from his own pen. His writings will bring you into the depressing horror that was his life for so long. I would also recommend "Nothing but an Unfinished Song" as this biography fills in the circumstances of the writing of this book.

'One Day in My Life' may as well have been penned in the blood of Bobby Sands, as he describes the endeavor to persevere and survive abuse and torture at the hands of his jailers.
In less than one hundred pages, that was first penned on toilet paper and hidden inside the authors body, he documents the events of one day describing how he and his fellow comrades in the infamous H-Blocks of Long Kesh Prison faced and resisted the state sponsored brutality with bravery, resolve and encouragement. Allowing themselves to exist in conditions of filth, cold and near starvation to protest their given status as common criminals rather than one of political prisoners which they were.
This book is an account of true believers who surrendered their bodies, but never their minds or their espirit de corps. To understand their determination is to understand that they were willing to accept a slow, agonizing death rather than imperialistic tyranny.
Foot note: Bobby Sands never left prison alive. A little while beyond the time that he wrote the original manuscript he was elected MP of Fermanagah and South Tyrone in April 1981. He died at the age of 27 on the sixty-sixth day of a hunger strike on 5 May 1981. Nine of his comrades, also, died on their hunger strikes around the same time. The death of Bobby Sands and the others did more to further the Cause than any number of bombings that occurred during the Troubles.