This letter was a lot more negative than the past ones that I read. He is talking about being stuck in a cell that has pretty much nothing ad that is all he owns and possibly will ever own. It makes me so grateful for the things that I do have, sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in things that don’t matter that we tend to lose sight of what we do have and how great that is. I feel very sad about this man, I don’t know how I would be able to stay in an enclosed room without going crazy. I know a lot of people find themselves in prison but I feel that prison is cruel and that there should be other ways to punish people. It is pretty much death without dying. You lose everything else around you and you can think and feel but you cannot partake in their lives or join them.
The saddest part about this letter is that he talks about love and how great it would be to have someone perfect for you and have self made chains where you can look across the room and know that someone is out there for you. I feel for him so much because love can make even the worst of times feel better. It is such a good feeling to know that someone out there loves you and is thinking about you and they are there throughout your flaws and mistakes because your imperfections to them is what makes you perfect. I also respect that this prisoner talks about love as being the only thing he misses most from being in prison.

This letter sounded so beautiful to me and it really had me thinking about the relationships I have had with men. Maybe because I am still in college that I haven’t had much experience with men treating me like this. I will always remember my first date and how weird it was for me when a guy picked up the check or paid for everything. It’s strange hearing a guy writing things like that. I also read some of the responses to this and a lot of people say that this man doesn’t exist. I believe that there are a lot of men that treat their wives or girlfriends in such a way. My dad is always that respectful to my mom and my grandpa always treated my grandma like that from what I remember.

I think the media destroys our image of how a real relationship can be and we settle for things because that’s how we see it on TV. After reading this poem I sent it to my boyfriend who I just started dating and said you do all this for me and I am very thankful. There are a lot of men out there who degrade women and treat them as though they are just objects to them who can satisfy their need for the time being. That being said, these days there are a lot of women out there that are now taking the role that a man used to be. We try to prove that we are so independent that we don’t let men try to do any of these things.

I wish there were more men that were as chivalrous as this poem makes men sound like but in this generation I really feel that it is dying out. Its horrible to see that this man who now figures out what women want is in jail and it took him that to finally realize it.

This poem to me sounded very sad and I could feel for the person, but at the same time, this prisoner most likely committed an act of murder to be getting life in prison. I cannot feel sorry for a person who has taken someone else’s life. When Sam mentioned how would you feel if someone raped your sister/girlfriend/friend, I feel that yes, that person deserves a lot of punishment, and confining them in a room with four walls is a pretty big punishment. But, for a person to take the life of someone else, it just makes them an even worse person.
There are people out there with cold hearts walking around, but there are also loving, kind, warm people and this prisoner is saying he is walking among people with cold souls that is why he is cold, even in hell. I read an earlier response where someone wrote these people should be given a second chance. I completely disagree with that. Yes, there are some situations where a person deserves a second chance, like a DUI, or robbery, or even a first time offender. But when the life of someone else is at risk, there should not be second chances.
I feel that the more chances you give someone, the more they will think of ways to get away with it, if they already got away with it once. Maybe if we give them a sentence less than life that in my eyes would be ok. Murder is never right and I feel that is poem is just trying to get our sympathy for a crime this person committed on their free will.

I understand how the people from Helsinki have seasonal depression. In Pennsylvania we only have to deal with winter for about 4 months and I see how much effect that has on me. I could not imagine having sunlight for only 5 hours out of the day. During the winter season, I feel very tired, hungry and sleepy. I barely make it to my classes because it is too cold to go outside and barely ever make it to the gym. Sometimes when it is nice and sunny out, I will make it to campus because of the bright day, which makes me happier. I do not know how they can do this for so long without becoming seriously depressed. Summer time is one of the best times of the year and I could not imagine going to a city where they didn’t have as much daylight as our summers do. Everyone is more active and moving in the summer than the winter. Everyone is outside doing productive things and me personally just feel so much happier and excited to be alive when it is sunny.
These people are obviously still staying in that town because this is what they know and a lot of people resist change, but I would never recommend that place to anyone. It can get very depressing living like that. I do not understand how these people could be happy and enthusiastic about their life. Yes, I love the nightlife but usually when it is after eight and it is warm. I would not be surprised if they had very high suicide or depression rates in Finland. It would be hard to keep track of the time and be aware of where you are supposed to be at that time. I feel as everything would just blend in together and if I was living there I would sleep most of the day.

I feel that telling our children not to talk to strangers is not giving them bad advice. At a very young age, children are very naive and believe almost everything that they are told. So in order to protect them, we avoid the situation entirely. Yes, there are a lot of nice, decent, and good people out there; but there are also plenty of horrible people that would kidnap children or rape or kill other human beings. I think that as kids grow older that we can tell them that it is ok to ask for help because at that age they can tell who seems trustworthy and who doesn't. But at this day and age, even people you would think you can go to above anyone else turns out to be a bad person. I was recently told that my brothers fifth and sixth grade teacher is being sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting a little boy. I remember when he got fired last year for something, and the school board would not say and it took him this long to be brought to court. The man, along with two other priests from a different parish sexually assaulted this little boy. The priests did it first and when this man heard about, he did not do anything, but he offered the boy a ride home, and then anally and sexually raped him, then left him out by the woods, alone. I agree, this is one of those rare occasions that do not happen everyday, but when it is so close to home, it makes you wonder. It also makes you wonder how many other kids there are out there that this happened to that have not spoken up. I was taught not to open the door for anyone when i was home alone unless it was the police, even them not to open it for. When I answered the phone, I was told to tell them that my mom or dad was in the shower and that they would get back to them when they were out. I am from a different country, so my grandparents also went as far as to tell me not to eat food from people I did not know, even if they were in my school. I was not to talk to strangers, or people in the streets. I do not think this is a bad concept at all. I am a very sociable person and just because I did not talk to strangers when I was younger does not change anything except make me safer and I plan on sharing the same beliefs with my children when I have them.

I completely agree. We all want the things we can not have. My old roommate has big boobs and sometimes it interfered with what she was wearing and I remember the stories of how uncomfortable she was when she was younger and the rest of us were still developing and she had boobs, and it was an awkward time for her. Now her back constantly kills her, she has to wear three bras when she works out and I know she would give anything to get a breast reduction because she cant stand her boobs. I also have a roommate who does not have big boobs, and she is constantly complaining how she does not and how she would like to get breast implants to make them bigger. She is always buying those bras that add an extra cup to your bra size. It is like girls with straight hair always want curly hair because they see it on someone else and it looks better or girls with curly hair want straight hair.
I also agree that it is a never ending cycle. The media as much as some of us do not want to admit or accept does alter our minds to what we SHOULD think is beautiful or appropriate to wear and act. I know this isn't what I should be doing but I dye my hair blonde every summer and dark every winter or I get clip ins because I see people in magazines and they look so much better with that kind of hair.
You are right that people are very competitive with each other and women are way more than just looks. For centuries women fought for our rights that we have today but at the end of the day, the first thing you notice on a woman or man is their appearance and as materialistic as it sounds, I don't think this will ever change. We should all strive to not think this way, or let the media control what we consider to be the right look but I don't think this will ever happen. Our society is based on media and looks.

This is just adding to my previous comment, I also feel that this prisoner is not really stating everything, not that he has to, but if he was abused as a child or neglected that could have been those invisible strings we discussed in class coming down and stating that we are never really free. Most victims of sexual abuse or physical abuse grow up to be abusers themselves no matter how much they try and strive to be different from it. This man is searching from forgiveness from the victims family and the community and after 36 years I feel as though he has not received it yet. He stays behind bars repeating that incident over and over again and he had only 15 years of life and what do you actually enjoy until you are 15. Thats not even old enough to be able to celebrate your sweet 16 or proms and I really think the mind is not fully comprehensive at that time. We think we are invincible and that nothing bad will happen to us at that age. We think we know everything and nothing can harm us. It is really unfortunate that no one helped this man when he was younger so maybe this thing could have been prevented.

Reading this article actually makes me feel very sorry for the prisoner, especially because he was so young when he committed the crime. When I was that young, I have done a lot of stupid things, none that involved violence to others but just looking back at the petty things I did, I wish I would have known then what I knew now. Sometimes it is very hard when you don't have people that care about you, and help you determine what is right or wrong. I have done things that I wish I could take back and change and I know that I grew from it but I cant imagine having to be in a four wall room all day and night and constantly thinking about that moment that I did something haste out of anger, or attention, or whatever I was feeling. We never really hear the other side of the story. I am experiencing a lot of mixed emotions from this letter because a crime does not just hurt the victim, it is a ripple effect. It hurts their family, the family of the offender and society as a whole.

I have never read a letter from an inmate and just reading what he had to say has made me think of all the freedoms that I take for granted. I am from a different country and where I am from it was a communist country and when I hear my parents talk about the freedoms that they did not have never seemed realistic to me. I could never imagine being taken away just for saying something bad about your government, or for learning to speak a different language. I was blessed to be born after that era and immigrate to here. Hearing what this man had to say really brought things into perspective for me.
I could never imagine having all these freedoms taken away from me. We sometimes become so into things that are irrelevant like Facebook and TV that we forget the things that actually mean something. Freedom is much like choices and it is sad to think that there are people out there that think that they no longer have any choices. We make choices everyday and we can always get ourselves out of a situation if we really wanted. In class we talked about suicide and it makes me wonder how bad did this person really have it that they felt that was their only way out. This prisoner is spending his life in jail and still has a positive outlook on life and there are people out there selfish enough to take their own life because they feel that they do not have any other choice.