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FROM Beverly Perlson of The Band Of Mothers:

Please call your Congressmen and Senators and ask them why our Sons continue to sit in Leavenworth while terrorists are being released! Please be polite but firm.

http://freedomradiorocks.com/2011/08/23/prisoner-at-large/
http://www.defendmichael.com
Prisoner At Large
http://freedomradiorocks.com/2011/08/23/prisoner-at-large/ August 23, 2011Being the prisoner of a progressive disease is a daily fight for freedom, a war to never let the disease define you. Multiple Sclerosis means waking up every morning, attempting to get out of bed, and then being jerked to the floor and reminded that you are wearing an invisible ball and chain. Yes there are good days. On the good days, I behave like a sailor on 24 hour leave, but as always, I digress. The quandary is that at any part of the day, without warning, the ball can go from being a 5 pounder to a 100 pounder to a 1000 pounder at any given moment. The ball can also change places, it can be attached to your leg, your arms, your brain, your lips or all at the same time.

Its been 10 years since the diagnosis.

Its been 10 years since September 11, 2001.

The ball’s minimum weight is rarely 5 pounds any more, its more like 50. Yes it is a burden that can overcome your spirit and at times it wins. I confess to moments of weakness.

It is during one of those times of weakness that I received this letter. I received this letter from a young handsome man in prison who will be there for what most of us would consider the prime of his life. It is a letter from Michael Behenna, a prisoner at Leavenworth, convicted of murdering a known Al Queda killer, while serving in the military in the Middle East. He serves us as a result of the September 11 attacks and multiple terrorist attacks against innocent people. He serves us.

From Michael’s letter:
King Solomon had a dream in which God came to him and said “Ask me anything and I will give it to you.” King Solomon answered “I am but a little child. I know not how to go out or to come in, but I am a servant of thy people. Give me, therefore, an understanding heart that I may judge thy people wisely and fairly.” And God said “Because you did not ask for the lives of your enemies, did not ask for longevity, did not ask for riches, because you asked only for this one thing…understanding, I will give you understanding. There will be none wiser than you on this earth.”
So each day I strive to not focus on the bad, but to find the good. I immerse myself in books that take me a thousand miles from this place of concrete and steel. I push forward in my quest of self-discovery and self-observation seeking wisdom to call my own. From the small window in my prison cell I can see a cornfield where a farmer toils in the hot summer air and I find myself longing to walk that field and feel the earth beneath my feet and the sun against my face. My hopes are to someday have my own land upon which I will raise cattle and spend all my waking hours in that warm sun upon my horse whose name only I will know.
Gratitude is not something one would expect to find behind these walls, but it is here where I found it…waiting to teach me what really matters in this life. And while I sleep she gently reminds me how truly blessed my life is.
Read entire letter at http://www.defendmichael.com
So this morning, waking up with my friend the ball and chain, I admit to being discouraged and vulnerable. That is until I read Michael’s letter.
A letter from a man in prison cheers ME up?
We all have our prisons, some are inflicted upon us, but many are built by our own hand, as is occasionally mine. Pray for Michael Behenna. Pray that although his prison may continue to hold his body, his spirit will remain free.