Right away I see that this guy isn’t just some worthless idiot killer. In his first sentence he says “a few years ago, when I was much younger,” implying that he has grown a lot in a relatively short amount of time during his prison stay. It makes me think about how I would handle a life sentence in prison. That’s a lot of alone time. I would probably go insane, but I’d like to think that I would retool my whole way of thinking, as this man seems to have done. He is obviously an articulate person who has done his share of thinking. After finishing the letter, I realized that this is way better than any composition I have ever written, and this guy didn’t even finish high school. I find that pretty impressive.
I had never heard stories of humanity in prison like this before. I never thought about the image of two convicted criminals hugging and crying in the prison yard over a tragedy. But, I guess I can’t expect them not to. I mean, they don’t stop being people just because they get thrown in jail. They are like everyone else, except they made mistakes, which they are paying for now. What was really surprising was that the two men hated each other, but the one was trying to comfort the other anyway. A lot of people on the outside who aren’t hardened criminals do not show this kind of compassion. It made me think: Do they really deserve to be in there? Why must we lock up people who can be so caring? I don’t think it matters how compassionate someone is. If a man offers his heartfelt condolences and sacrifices his phone time for another man who is going through a tragedy, it doesn’t mean that he can’t possibly turn around and harm someone else or commit another crime. It is a natural human response to try to ease someone else’s suffering. It was nice of the man who wrote the letter to put his hand on the other man’s shoulder and offer his sympathy, but it doesn’t mean he should be released.
The last sentence hit me pretty hard too. This dude is a very good writer. He says “we all suffer and any relief, no matter how small, is of great relief to us all.” That sentence made me think of the tragedies going on in the world today, like the earthquake in Haiti, and how every little thing we do to help counts. When a disaster of such magnitude occurs, everyone needs to pitch in. With 7 billion people on this planet, we should be able to overcome anything if we band together.

(This goes in between my last two posts)
In order to break the vicious cycle, we, meaning people on all sides of the conflict, need to stop looking at things as being so black and white. We need to put ourselves in the shoes of the enemy and see from their perspective, as Sam made the class do on Thursday. We need to see that maybe the things they do are as justified in their minds as our actions are in ours. We also need to realize that the Muslims who commit especially heinous crimes are an extreme minority, just as the Americans who torture prisoners represent a tiny number of disturbed individuals in a sea of good people. I believe that the lecture on Thursday got a lot of people to really start thinking about it.

(This goes in between my last two posts)
In order to break the vicious cycle, we, meaning people on all sides of the conflict, need to stop looking at things as being so black and white. We need to put ourselves in the shoes of the enemy and see from their perspective, as Sam made the class do on Thursday. We need to see that maybe the things they do are as justified in their minds as our actions are in ours. We also need to realize that the Muslims who commit especially heinous crimes are an extreme minority, just as the Americans who torture prisoners represent a tiny number of disturbed individuals in a sea of good people. I believe that the lecture on Thursday got a lot of people to really start thinking about it.

I'm missing part of what I wrote above, and I can't get this damn thing to accept what I want to post.

(This goes in between my last two posts)
In order to break the vicious cycle, we, meaning people on all sides of the conflict, need to stop looking at things as being so black and white. We need to put ourselves in the shoes of the enemy and see from their perspective, as Sam made the class do on Thursday. We need to see that maybe the things they do are as justified in their minds as our actions are in ours. We also need to realize that the Muslims who commit especially heinous crimes are an extreme minority, just as the Americans who torture prisoners represent a tiny number of disturbed individuals in a sea of good people. I believe that the lecture on Thursday got a lot of people to really start thinking about it.

(This goes in between my last two posts)
In order to break the vicious cycle, we, meaning people on all sides of the conflict, need to stop looking at things as being so black and white. We need to put ourselves in the shoes of the enemy and see from their perspective, as Sam made the class do on Thursday. We need to see that maybe the things they do are as justified in their minds as our actions are in ours. We also need to realize that the Muslims who commit especially heinous crimes are an extreme minority, just as the Americans who torture prisoners represent a tiny number of disturbed individuals in a sea of good people. I believe that the lecture on Thursday got a lot of people to really start thinking about it.

(This goes between my last two posts)
In order to break the vicious cycle, we, meaning people on all sides of the conflict, need to stop looking at things as being so black and white. We need to put ourselves in the shoes of the enemy and see from their perspective, as Sam made the class do on Thursday. We need to see that maybe the things they do are as justified in their minds as our actions are in ours. We also need to realize that the Muslims who commit especially heinous crimes are an extreme minority, just as the Americans who torture prisoners represent a tiny number of disturbed individuals in a sea of good people. I believe that the lecture on Thursday got a lot of people to really start thinking about it.

However, I feel like many people may have changed their minds very quickly, which I don’t think is necessarily right. I am afraid that too many people automatically believe the most recent opinion they’ve heard about a subject. We need to take everything we hear and read on an issue and take it all into account before we form our own opinions, not just spout back the last thing we heard.

In order to break the vicious cycle, we, meaning people on all sides of the conflict, need to stop looking at things as being so black and white. We need to put ourselves in the shoes of the enemy and see from their perspective, as Sam made the class do on Thursday. We need to see that maybe the things they do are as justified in their minds as our actions are in ours. We also need to realize that the Muslims who commit especially heinous crimes are an extreme minority, just as the Americans who torture prisoners represent a tiny number of disturbed individuals in a sea of good people. I believe that the lecture on Thursday got a lot of people to really start thinking about it.

In order to break the vicious cycle, we, meaning people on all sides of the conflict, need to stop looking at things as being so black and white. We need to put ourselves in the shoes of the enemy and see from their perspective, as Sam made the class do on Thursday. We need to see that maybe the things they do are as justified in their minds as our actions are in ours. We also need to realize that the Muslims who commit especially heinous crimes are an extreme minority, just as the Americans who torture prisoners represent a tiny number of disturbed individuals in a sea of good people. I believe that the lecture on Thursday got a lot of people to really start thinking about it. However, I feel like many people may have changed their minds very quickly, which I don’t think is necessarily right. I am afraid that too many people automatically believe the most recent opinion they’ve heard about a subject. We need to take everything we hear and read on an issue and take it all into account before we form our own opinions, not just spout back the last thing we heard.