What was the man thinking, that is what I want to know? Somebody needs to teach him kidnapping 101. It’s day time and there are people all around unless he had help he wasn’t getting where with a crying child. Also the child was walking with someone, did he honestly think they wasn’t going to do anything. I applaud the nanny she should get a pay raise. As he has walking away he was smiling, there must be something wrong with the man because he “Epic failed” and was still happy. I hope the police do find him, place him in jail and find out he was thinking so we all can better understand people like him.
Watching this video is exactly why I don’t watch the news. I understanding that “Eyewitness News abc 7” is just trying to inform people, but fear is not the way. Maybe after the video the news station should have an expert on risk and children. This expert would give information that would be more helpful than this news report. Also if I’m not mistaken if you pause the video at 2:15 at the end you can see the next news report. The next report is a double shooting. Why would anybody want to watch bad news after bad news? I wouldn’t want my child going in that area or even live in that area. But I’m sure that’s not how the area is all the time, but thanks to the media it is portrayed to be a bad area of town. That’s why I don’t watch the news I’ll rather read this online and inform myself.
Lastly being a father myself I would have to agree with some of the people who study risk and children. If my daughter is lost or confused ask a stranger nicely. But if a stranger talk first do not respond and found another adult stranger for help. Hopefully they get people like the man in the video of the streets and we’ll not have to be scare to walk in our own neighborhoods.

I remember reading “Remember” by S. a Pennsylvania Lifer. Starting with the first sentence he had my attention and still has yet to let it go. I remember talking to a lifer from Rockview State Correctional Institution his words echo the same meaning. I’ll call him Roc to keep him private. Roc just as S. can’t remember their first day. Roc stated that he doesn’t want to remember those days because every day is the same.
As I was reading “Remember” my mind kept switches the words remember with imagine. Hopefully I will never: “cannot remember my first day in prison and what I felt”, or “cannot remember the last time I heard from any of the friends I grew up with”. When I think back on my younger days it gives me peace. All the good and bad I have done to make me this person today. But to have a few seconds of drunken stupidity and that causes a change for the rest of your life I can only imagine. To lose the support from my family who I love and my new born daughter how would I live without her? I love talking to my friends from my past all the good times we had and the stupid things we did and how we each took something different from it and grow. I can only imagine not being able to hug, make love, cry with, laugh with your loved spouse, but in his case cannot remember. I would like to think that I’m the man of my own making and this man is recognized as a man by whomever. I can only imagine not being seen as a man with no name but a number.
From the list of “I cannot remember” two sentences hit me really strong. “I cannot remember the names of the men I’ve seen come and go, while I remain.” Reality is that most people are going to get out of prison someday and these people become friends with lifers. It would torture me to see other people get out and come right back in time after time and to know it will never be your time. I can only imagine. “And I cannot remember the day the flame of hope became so dim, it was almost non-existent.” This saddens that something we my think will always be ours in this case it would be hope. We all have to right to hope and believe there will be change. But to know there is no hope because you will never get out and get to remember all that you forgot and start new.
I can only imagine what 48 years in prison would do to me?

I would like to first say thank M. for provoking my mind and making me think deeply on this thing we call “moral compass”. I have visited prisoners who are lifers, and most seem to have the same view about the Pennsylvania Courts system (note they all were around 40 years of age). There needs to be a change on how we look at those who receive life without the possibility of parole. At the least spark a debate that could make a change. I believe life without parole may be worse than death, but that’s for another time. My father who has been in prison 11 years now serving a 37 year sentence or more is a strong believer that if you do the crime you must do the time. Those beliefs have been passed down to me, which brings me to believe that serving any time will change a person for good or bad. In this case not knowing M crime I believe serving life will rearrange your moral compass or create a new. But how can anyone be sure of their own moral compass?
Before I answer any question on my own moral compass I must fully understand morals. What I do understand is that morals are not the same for everyone, I mean how could they we all live our own life. Sure there may be some influences from things outside our control. For example, being in prison for life a person can almost never change that fact. That brought me to my own definition of morals. Morals being what a single person believes to be right or wrong even if it is against what people as a whole believe is right and wrongs, which we call laws.
What I would agree on is that we all must form the perfect good person in our thoughts. This means we may have the perfect morals, but know nothing or no one is perfect. We are all humans and we make mistakes based on our morals, rather we thought ours morals were correct and turn out the people or laws say otherwise. That brought me to this add on to my definition of morals. We know and respect the morals of others and of the people (laws) so that my moral compass won’t be blind that our people may have different moral compasses.
Lastly, with time all things change just as an individual moral compass will change that of the people (laws) will change. Maybe that change will be good for some and bad for others. I’ll like to end with a quote from M “Still, if I had never come to prison I likely would not have examined my moral self so fully. I may have still ended up a good person, but not because of thoughtful exploration only because I am human.” We’re all just human and may our moral compass take us down the correct path.

Living and fighting in a War environment can be very stressful for some people; I’m getting stressed just thinking about it. Most soldiers come from an environment where people don’t have to carry a weapon. This change can be a stock to your system than the person comes back home and there aren’t many people who they can relate to. Sample tacks for example sleeping can bring back memories that makes a person not want to go to sleep or need help going to sleep. The opposite of that are those people who get a high from the war environment being able to kill. These people come back from war and how are they going to get their high. I feel there are many our people coming back from war with many others problems. Watching the video “Soldiers under stress” some soldiers come back with no way to release their stress other than drugs, alcohol, and the worst suicide. Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire wrote a report on this subject. Hopefully the nine chapters that recommend what a person can do when they come back from the stressful environment of war will help improve this problem. Also the report recommend what the people in HQ can do to better help the young people coming back from war. I Believe something must be done because suicide is not how you what your love one to die after war. 80% of the suicides are being done once they return home. Based on some ideas from class Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire is moving the issue in the right direction, but she can’t do it on her own she will need the help of others and maybe they can help return the soldiers mind and body return home.

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