en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2413740 Comments by ri12492 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137625634 This poem is pretty much the opposite of the rest of the Pennsylvania lifers letters that I have read. The big thing that this prisoner has not realized the freedoms they once had and the freedoms they still do have. If I were to guess I would say this prisoner has not been in jail for long. In class Sam discussed that the prisoners he has meet did not realize what they lost until they had been in jail for many years. In this poem the prisoner only recognizes they hopelessness of prison. Unlike the other prisoners letters that I have read this prisoner did not really list anything they lost by being sent to prison besides saying they need live and they want to love. The other prisoners were giving long lists of what they had lost like being able to take a shower when they wanted to, take a walk around the neighborhood, and not being able to talk to love ones when they wanted to. This shows that this prisoner has not yet discovered what they have lost. Its pretty clear that the prisoner writing this letter committed a murder. The prisoner does seem to feel pretty bad about this and is probably still thinking what he did before even recognizing his life is over and many of his freedoms have been taken away. In class we discussed that you do not know what it is like to be in another persons pairs of shoes or taking on someone else’s perspective. That is way I do know weather to be glad he got a life sentence or be sad because I did not know what he was going through when he committed the murder for all I know he could have been the nicest guy on the planet but something just made him crack under pressure. Everyone is put in different situations and do not know what it is like to be in the shoes of someone else. Overall I think my opinion of the Pennsylvania lifers has changed through out this semester and I know that you have to be in the persons shoes to understand what really happened. Sat, 26 Mar 2011 03:23:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137625634 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137525636 This poem is pretty much the opposite of the rest of the Pennsylvania lifers letters that I have read. The big thing that this prisoner has not realized the freedoms they once had and the freedoms they still do have. If I were to guess I would say this prisoner has not been in jail for long. In class Sam discussed that the prisoners he has meet did not realize what they lost until they had been in jail for many years. In this poem the prisoner only recognizes they hopelessness of prison. Unlike the other prisoners letters that I have read this prisoner did not really list anything they lost by being sent to prison besides saying they need live and they want to love. The other prisoners were giving long lists of what they had lost like being able to take a shower when they wanted to, take a walk around the neighborhood, and not being able to talk to love ones when they wanted to. This shows that this prisoner has not yet discovered what they have lost. Its pretty clear that the prisoner writing this letter committed a murder. The prisoner does seem to feel pretty bad about this and is probably still thinking what he did before even recognizing his life is over and many of his freedoms have been taken away. In class we discussed that you do not know what it is like to be in another persons pairs of shoes or taking on someone else’s perspective. That is way I do know weather to be glad he got a life sentence or be sad because I did not know what he was going through when he committed the murder for all I know he could have been the nicest guy on the planet but something just made him crack under pressure. Everyone is put in different situations and do not know what it is like to be in the shoes of someone else. Overall I think my opinion of the Pennsylvania lifers has changed through out this semester and I know that you have to be in the persons shoes to understand what really happened. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 17:02:20 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137525636 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137502561 This poem is pretty much the opposite of the rest of the Pennsylvania lifers letters that I have read. The big thing that this prisoner has not realized the freedoms they once had and the freedoms they still do have. If I were to guess I would say this prisoner has not been in jail for long. In class Sam discussed that the prisoners he has meet did not realize what they lost until they had been in jail for many years. In this poem the prisoner only recognizes they hopelessness of prison. Unlike the other prisoners letters that I have read this prisoner did not really list anything they lost by being sent to prison besides saying they need live and they want to love. The other prisoners were giving long lists of what they had lost like being able to take a shower when they wanted to, take a walk around the neighborhood, and not being able to talk to love ones when they wanted to. This shows that this prisoner has not yet discovered what they have lost. Its pretty clear that the prisoner writing this letter committed a murder. The prisoner does seem to feel pretty bad about this and is probably still thinking what he did before even recognizing his life is over and many of his freedoms have been taken away. In class we discussed that you do not know what it is like to be in another persons pairs of shoes or taking on someone else’s perspective. That is way I do know weather to be glad he got a life sentence or be sad because I did not know what he was going through when he committed the murder for all I know he could have been the nicest guy on the planet but something just made him crack under pressure. Everyone is put in different situations and do not know what it is like to be in the shoes of someone else. Overall I think my opinion of the Pennsylvania lifers has changed through out this semester and I know that you have to be in the persons shoes to understand what really happened. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:06:12 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137502561 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137502521 This poem is pretty much the opposite of the rest of the Pennsylvania lifers letters that I have read. The big thing that this prisoner has not realized the freedoms they once had and the freedoms they still do have. If I were to guess I would say this prisoner has not been in jail for long. In class Sam discussed that the prisoners he has meet did not realize what they lost until they had been in jail for many years. In this poem the prisoner only recognizes they hopelessness of prison. Unlike the other prisoners letters that I have read this prisoner did not really list anything they lost by being sent to prison besides saying they need live and they want to love. The other prisoners were giving long lists of what they had lost like being able to take a shower when they wanted to, take a walk around the neighborhood, and not being able to talk to love ones when they wanted to. This shows that this prisoner has not yet discovered what they have lost. Its pretty clear that the prisoner writing this letter committed a murder. The prisoner does seem to feel pretty bad about this and is probably still thinking what he did before even recognizing his life is over and many of his freedoms have been taken away. In class we discussed that you do not know what it is like to be in another persons pairs of shoes or taking on someone else’s perspective. That is way I do know weather to be glad he got a life sentence or be sad because I did not know what he was going through when he committed the murder for all I know he could have been the nicest guy on the planet but something just made him crack under pressure. Everyone is put in different situations and do not know what it is like to be in the shoes of someone else. Overall I think my opinion of the Pennsylvania lifers has changed through out this semester and I know that you have to be in the persons shoes to understand what really happened. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:05:58 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137502521 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137487796 This poem is pretty much the opposite of the rest of the Pennsylvania lifers letters that I have read. The big thing that this prisoner has not realized the freedoms they once had and the freedoms they still do have. If I were to guess I would say this prisoner has not been in jail for long. In class Sam discussed that the prisoners he has meet did not realize what they lost until they had been in jail for many years. In this poem the prisoner only recognizes they hopelessness of prison. Unlike the other prisoners letters that I have read this prisoner did not really list anything they lost by being sent to prison besides saying they need live and they want to love. The other prisoners were giving long lists of what they had lost like being able to take a shower when they wanted to, take a walk around the neighborhood, and not being able to talk to love ones when they wanted to. This shows that this prisoner has not yet discovered what they have lost. Its pretty clear that the prisoner writing this letter committed a murder. The prisoner does seem to feel pretty bad about this and is probably still thinking what he did before even recognizing his life is over and many of his freedoms have been taken away. In class we discussed that you do not know what it is like to be in another persons pairs of shoes or taking on someone else’s perspective. That is way I do know weather to be glad he got a life sentence or be sad because I did not know what he was going through when he committed the murder for all I know he could have been the nicest guy on the planet but something just made him crack under pressure. Everyone is put in different situations and do not know what it is like to be in the shoes of someone else. Overall I think my opinion of the Pennsylvania lifers has changed through out this semester and I know that you have to be in the persons shoes to understand what really happened. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:48:32 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137487796 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137486795 This poem is pretty much the opposite of the rest of the Pennsylvania lifers letters that I have read. The big thing that this prisoner has not realized the freedoms they once had and the freedoms they still do have. If I were to guess I would say this prisoner has not been in jail for long. In class Sam discussed that the prisoners he has meet did not realize what they lost until they had been in jail for many years. In this poem the prisoner only recognizes they hopelessness of prison. Unlike the other prisoners letters that I have read this prisoner did not really list anything they lost by being sent to prison besides saying they need live and they want to love. The other prisoners were giving long lists of what they had lost like being able to take a shower when they wanted to, take a walk around the neighborhood, and not being able to talk to love ones when they wanted to. This shows that this prisoner has not yet discovered what they have lost. Its pretty clear that the prisoner writing this letter committed a murder. The prisoner does seem to feel pretty bad about this and is probably still thinking what he did before even recognizing his life is over and many of his freedoms have been taken away. In class we discussed that you do not know what it is like to be in another persons pairs of shoes or taking on someone else’s perspective. That is way I do know weather to be glad he got a life sentence or be sad because I did not know what he was going through when he committed the murder for all I know he could have been the nicest guy on the planet but something just made him crack under pressure. Everyone is put in different situations and do not know what it is like to be in the shoes of someone else. Overall I think my opinion of the Pennsylvania lifers has changed through out this semester and I know that you have to be in the persons shoes to understand what really happened. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:42:43 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137486795 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137486784 This poem is pretty much the opposite of the rest of the Pennsylvania lifers letters that I have read. The big thing that this prisoner has not realized the freedoms they once had and the freedoms they still do have. If I were to guess I would say this prisoner has not been in jail for long. In class Sam discussed that the prisoners he has meet did not realize what they lost until they had been in jail for many years. In this poem the prisoner only recognizes they hopelessness of prison. Unlike the other prisoners letters that I have read this prisoner did not really list anything they lost by being sent to prison besides saying they need live and they want to love. The other prisoners were giving long lists of what they had lost like being able to take a shower when they wanted to, take a walk around the neighborhood, and not being able to talk to love ones when they wanted to. This shows that this prisoner has not yet discovered what they have lost. Its pretty clear that the prisoner writing this letter committed a murder. The prisoner does seem to feel pretty bad about this and is probably still thinking what he did before even recognizing his life is over and many of his freedoms have been taken away. In class we discussed that you do not know what it is like to be in another persons pairs of shoes or taking on someone else’s perspective. That is way I do know weather to be glad he got a life sentence or be sad because I did not know what he was going through when he committed the murder for all I know he could have been the nicest guy on the planet but something just made him crack under pressure. Everyone is put in different situations and do not know what it is like to be in the shoes of someone else. Overall I think my opinion of the Pennsylvania lifers has changed through out this semester and I know that you have to be in the persons shoes to understand what really happened. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:42:40 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137486784 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137486768 This poem is pretty much the opposite of the rest of the Pennsylvania lifers letters that I have read. The big thing that this prisoner has not realized the freedoms they once had and the freedoms they still do have. If I were to guess I would say this prisoner has not been in jail for long. In class Sam discussed that the prisoners he has meet did not realize what they lost until they had been in jail for many years. In this poem the prisoner only recognizes they hopelessness of prison. Unlike the other prisoners letters that I have read this prisoner did not really list anything they lost by being sent to prison besides saying they need live and they want to love. The other prisoners were giving long lists of what they had lost like being able to take a shower when they wanted to, take a walk around the neighborhood, and not being able to talk to love ones when they wanted to. This shows that this prisoner has not yet discovered what they have lost. Its pretty clear that the prisoner writing this letter committed a murder. The prisoner does seem to feel pretty bad about this and is probably still thinking what he did before even recognizing his life is over and many of his freedoms have been taken away. In class we discussed that you do not know what it is like to be in another persons pairs of shoes or taking on someone else’s perspective. That is way I do know weather to be glad he got a life sentence or be sad because I did not know what he was going through when he committed the murder for all I know he could have been the nicest guy on the planet but something just made him crack under pressure. Everyone is put in different situations and do not know what it is like to be in the shoes of someone else. Overall I think my opinion of the Pennsylvania lifers has changed through out this semester and I know that you have to be in the persons shoes to understand what really happened. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:42:34 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137486768 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137486316 This poem is pretty much the opposite of the rest of the Pennsylvania lifers letters that I have read. The big thing that this prisoner has not realized the freedoms they once had and the freedoms they still do have. If I were to guess I would say this prisoner has not been in jail for long. In class Sam discussed that the prisoners he has meet did not realize what they lost until they had been in jail for many years. In this poem the prisoner only recognizes they hopelessness of prison. Unlike the other prisoners letters that I have read this prisoner did not really list anything they lost by being sent to prison besides saying they need live and they want to love. The other prisoners were giving long lists of what they had lost like being able to take a shower when they wanted to, take a walk around the neighborhood, and not being able to talk to love ones when they wanted to. This shows that this prisoner has not yet discovered what they have lost. Its pretty clear that the prisoner writing this letter committed a murder. The prisoner does seem to feel pretty bad about this and is probably still thinking what he did before even recognizing his life is over and many of his freedoms have been taken away. In class we discussed that you do not know what it is like to be in another persons pairs of shoes or taking on someone else’s perspective. That is way I do know weather to be glad he got a life sentence or be sad because I did not know what he was going through when he committed the murder for all I know he could have been the nicest guy on the planet but something just made him crack under pressure. Everyone is put in different situations and do not know what it is like to be in the shoes of someone else. Overall I think my opinion of the Pennsylvania lifers has changed through out this semester and I know that you have to be in the persons shoes to understand what really happened. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:39:49 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137486316 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137485559 This poem is pretty much the opposite of the rest of the Pennsylvania lifers letters that I have read. The big thing that this prisoner has not realized the freedoms they once had and the freedoms they still do have. If I were to guess I would say this prisoner has not been in jail for long. In class Sam discussed that the prisoners he has meet did not realize what they lost until they had been in jail for many years. In this poem the prisoner only recognizes they hopelessness of prison. Unlike the other prisoners letters that I have read this prisoner did not really list anything they lost by being sent to prison besides saying they need live and they want to love. The other prisoners were giving long lists of what they had lost like being able to take a shower when they wanted to, take a walk around the neighborhood, and not being able to talk to love ones when they wanted to. This shows that this prisoner has not yet discovered what they have lost. Its pretty clear that the prisoner writing this letter committed a murder. The prisoner does seem to feel pretty bad about this and is probably still thinking what he did before even recognizing his life is over and many of his freedoms have been taken away. In class we discussed that you do not know what it is like to be in another persons pairs of shoes or taking on someone else’s perspective. That is way I do know weather to be glad he got a life sentence or be sad because I did not know what he was going through when he committed the murder for all I know he could have been the nicest guy on the planet but something just made him crack under pressure. Everyone is put in different situations and do not know what it is like to be in the shoes of someone else. Overall I think my opinion of the Pennsylvania lifers has changed through out this semester and I know that you have to be in the persons shoes to understand what really happened. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:35:14 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137485559 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137485115 This poem is pretty much the opposite of the rest of the Pennsylvania lifers letters that I have read. The big thing that this prisoner has not realized the freedoms they once had and the freedoms they still do have. If I were to guess I would say this prisoner has not been in jail for long. In class Sam discussed that the prisoners he has meet did not realize what they lost until they had been in jail for many years. In this poem the prisoner only recognizes they hopelessness of prison. Unlike the other prisoners letters that I have read this prisoner did not really list anything they lost by being sent to prison besides saying they need live and they want to love. The other prisoners were giving long lists of what they had lost like being able to take a shower when they wanted to, take a walk around the neighborhood, and not being able to talk to love ones when they wanted to. This shows that this prisoner has not yet discovered what they have lost. Its pretty clear that the prisoner writing this letter committed a murder. The prisoner does seem to feel pretty bad about this and is probably still thinking what he did before even recognizing his life is over and many of his freedoms have been taken away. In class we discussed that you do not know what it is like to be in another persons pairs of shoes or taking on someone else's perspective. That is way I do know weather to be glad he got a life sentence or be sad because I did not know what he was going through when he committed the murder for all I know he could have been the nicest guy on the planet but something just made him crack under pressure. Everyone is put in different situations and do not know what it is like to be in the shoes of someone else. Overall I think my opinion of the Pennsylvania lifers has changed through out this semester and I know that you have to be in the persons shoes to understand what really happened. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:32:25 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment137485115 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/lgbt-families-theres-a-lot-of-fear-out-there/#IDComment135913442 In class we discussed the basic functions a family needs to be considered a family. We then watched a video about a homosexual couple that was adopting a kid. At the end of the video we discovered that they have basically the same functions any regular family has. In the video above I think Zack Wahls brings up a lot of good points. The first point he brings up is that his grandparents did not want to have anything to do with Zacks mother when they found out that she was pregnant from the donor sperm. But after he was born the grandparents got sucked in and we very accepting. He then brings up the fact that his family is the same as another family and names things that most normal families do. In class Sam said that majority of kids that are raised by a homosexual couple are straight and if they are not they are more accepting and conferrable being homosexual and will probably come out at a younger age rather then closeting it in like a child would do if they were raised by a heterosexual couple. The reason why most people do not like homosexual couples raising kids is because they think that being homosexual is a choice by the person and is not natural. They think by it being a choice that kid will "choose" to be homosexual as well, which confuses me because why would someone chose to be an outcast? Overall I think homosexual parenting will change the kids sexual orientation. I think if any kind of parenting would change the kids sexual orientation would be heterosexual parenting because if a kid is gay and did not want to open up about it and then they would just marry the opposite sex so they wont be an outcast which happens a lot of the time. Overall I think that this class conversation really showed that homosexual families with kids are the same as any other family and I think this video of Zack Wahls really highlighted some of the things we went over in class quiet well. Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:26:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/lgbt-families-theres-a-lot-of-fear-out-there/#IDComment135913442 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/stranger-kidnapping/#IDComment130753825 This video is not very shocking considering this type of thing happens a lot of places and the reaction is usually the same as it was in this video. Seeing that the news mostly only reports the bad that is happens in the community this type of thing scares a lot of people. This chances of this actually happening to a person is not very likely see that the population in Manhattan is large. Most people think this is very likely to happen to them because it is always what the news is reporting. I do think that there is some risk out there that it can happen to you but the risk is not as big as most people think. Like we discussed in class most kids that were lost and could not find their way would ask a complete stranger. This is weird because we always preach to kids not to talk to strangers but when they are put in a situation were they need help and a stranger is the only one that is there to help the kid will ask them for help in a heartbeat. Something we also discussed in class is that stranger are always willing to help, just like the article says that 99.9 percent of strangers will help. In class we said that no matter what kind of stranger it is if they are a nice priest or a drug dealer on the street they are most likely to help you out. But we did however discussed that the longer a kid looks for help the more they put themselves in dangers way with a risk of walking in front of a car or falling. Seeing that there are a very limited amount of people that will kidnap someone the chances that a kid will find someone to help them is very likely. Overall I think that this was a very interesting topic that kids first reaction is to go to a stranger if they are lost when they are clearly told from a young age not to talk to strangers and the video related to the class very good. Sat, 26 Feb 2011 03:21:13 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/stranger-kidnapping/#IDComment130753825 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/09/4092/#IDComment127452213 This letter that the prisoner wrote really made me think of all the things you can lose in just a second by doing something as dumb as driving a car drunk. The list that he provided is really quiet sad that he no longer has any of those things that most people take for granted every day. In the topic of freedom this prisoner has definitely recognized what he did wrong in society after being in jail for twenty six years. Obviously in our society if you do something bad you are sent to jail for x amount of years for how bad the crime you did was. Some people think it should be handled differently then that. Bringing it back to the article about the kid that brought the gun to school should everyone including kids that do not know better deserve the same punishment. We discussed in class that that do not recognize that you are not the only person that is going through a hard time have trouble dealing with things in life. I think that this prisoner really recognized that he made a mistake and now he is with this group of people that went to jail to for doing something wrong. Overall the letter was a good example of everything that we have been talking about in class lately about freedom. Sat, 12 Feb 2011 01:50:06 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/09/4092/#IDComment127452213 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/30/conformity-rules-the-day/#IDComment126054880 Watching this video really made me think about all the different situations that I am put into everyday. Most people don't think they are pressured by other people in these types of situations but they really are. As we discussed in class it makes you have this sense of comfort when you are following what the group is doing rather then being a rebel and doing the complete opposite. Like the video we watch about the group of people comparing the lines. All were actors besides one and they were all told to say the wrong answer leaving the poor guy thinking what was going on. The first few tries he picked the correct answer and did not go with the group but after a while he started choosing the wrong answer to go along with the group. The video we watched in class and this video on this article were very similar and were both trying to get the same point across. We also went over some other examples like that were similar to this article like the Noah's arc and being liberal verse conservative. This article also reminds me about a lot of situations I have been in that are similar to the video of the guy turning around in the elevator. An example was when I first started school was following everyone else in going into the same entrance of the building when there were was a different entrance I could have gone in that would have made it easier to get to my class. After watching this video I was a little bit more self conscious of what I was doing when I go into the elevator so when I saw I was facing the same direction as everyone else I thought to myself about this article and video. Overall people do not feel like sticking out of a group even when they are in a simple social situation as easy as standing in a elevator. I think this article and the video that went along with it fit in good with the class and gave me another example of conformity. Sat, 5 Feb 2011 02:24:55 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/30/conformity-rules-the-day/#IDComment126054880 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/23/how-free-are-these-90-students/#IDComment124452146 Seeing that this school is located in a low-income area most of the kids are not educated as well as the areas that have higher income. I do think that the kids in this school were trying to show that they had the freedom to have sex at an early age. Even though most of their intentions were probably not to get pregnant they were still trying to be free. Most kids in this school being from a poorer family probably did not have the money to go out and do other things so they jumped to having sex. The biggest problem this school has is that they are not teaching sex education to the kids in the school. Most schools have the funding for classes like this but this school did not. Sex education class could teach kids how to have sex with out getting pregnant. Even though it is somewhat common sense kids still need to hear someone older and mature tell them. A lot of the time it is not being from a low-income area or being from a school that did not have sex education classes it could be the environment the kid grew up in. If a kid saw older influences having sex at a young age they would probably be more likely to do the same thing. In class we discussed being sexually abused at a young age can lead to people being more promiscuous. The link of the eleven facts about sex education in the United States also showed a good reason why a lot of kids in this school are getting pregnant. It is mostly because they do not have an abstinence program in place for the kids. Overall I think that the kids getting pregnant at an early age is not very shocking seeing the surroundings all of these kids live in, not just in their city but for some of the kids their household. I think this article tied in very good with the class because it brought up that idea that all your actions are not just caused by you but are caused by your surroundings. Sat, 29 Jan 2011 01:52:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/23/how-free-are-these-90-students/#IDComment124452146 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/10/last-name-%e2%80%9ca%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-intense-debate/#IDComment123480353 Soc 001 Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:33:06 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/10/last-name-%e2%80%9ca%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-intense-debate/#IDComment123480353 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/15/what-does-it-mean-to-be-free/#IDComment122804519 This letter really got me thinking both about freedom and about how something as little as wanting to take a walk and enjoy some fresh air can be taken away from you as quick as a snap of a finger. The things the inmate listed I had always taken for granted and while doing all of those things never thought it was a freedom I had. I think that getting life in prison for this individual really changed his perspective of life and what he was taking for granted before. Like we discussed in class you do not start to think of these freedoms you have the minute you walk into that jail cell. The first time you think of those freedoms that you used to have is when you start thinking “this is real and I will be here for the rest of my life”. The inmate made a good point of the freedom he still does have in jail, which can never be taken away from him or anyone else and that is the freedom your mind has to make decisions. Something we also discussed in class is that you are making decisions all the time both big and small. In the case of the inmate he may not make some of his decisions that he used to make when he was free but still has the freedom to make decisions. I thought it was interesting at the end of the letter he talked about feeling more free then he has ever been before by appreciating the few freedoms he still has left. Most people would not think of saying that the second day of being in jail it took some time for him to realize that even though he was in jail he still had some freedom. Overall I think this letter made me think in a different way about the topic of freedom and I realized that you could have nearly everything taken away from you but still have freedom. The article also made me think in a different way about what we discussed in class. Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:01:23 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/15/what-does-it-mean-to-be-free/#IDComment122804519