Hey!
I got this idea at about 4AM this morning. I’ve been feeling stuck lately with what to do for my friends who are in prison, especially those that have been sentenced under the Felony Murder Rule. Usually when I don’t know what to do, I sit down and write. This time I’ve decided to write in the form of a letter to y’all, and see what happens.
When I write to you, I say “hang on”. Javiel wrote back to me and said: “you hang on, too”. It helped me to realize that we’re all in this together. Though I’m on the outside, the FMR traps me too. Your imprisonment, the injustice of your sentence, makes me nuts.
I am writing all of this to you because I don’t know what else to do. For years I have been appalled at the injustice of the Felony Murder Rule. I’ve wanted to do something to change the law and get more just sentences for those who were convicted and sentenced using the FMR. I’ve tried writing letters to congressmen, journalists, writers, and attorneys. I’ve put up websites, petitions. I’ve gotten nowhere and now I don’t know what to do, so I’m writing this group letter. Maybe we can come up with something together.
I’m just me. I tend to be shy and introverted. I can write sentences, but I’m not a real writer. We need help. We need more people, more ideas, more passion.
In the meantime, I’ll write at least once a month. I’ll put the letters on a blog site, which might attract others who have ideas about what to do.
Many of you want to know some of the stuff that is going on out here with me, personally. So the rest of this letter is just me rambling ...
The news from Haiti is bad. Not only the thousands who have died, but all the injured people on the streets. I keep thinking of the many people who are trapped under rubble, with broken bones and injuries, waiting for someone to find them, dig them out. How many of them will just perish? The suffering is heart-wrenching. The good news is that the world is responding, each country trying to outdo the other in how much they can give.
I spent some time in Haiti in the 1990s. The people were beautiful, even in their poverty. I often felt embarrassed by my privilege. The Haitians could see through my white-guilt and just smiled their great big smiles of forgiveness and welcome.
Sometimes I get impatient with my situation, wanting things to be different. And I think about those Haitians who are sitting on a sidewalk somewhere now, with no home, no food, no water, and no family. I wonder how they must feel about their situation. Hopeless? Jeez, what a strange world we live in.
I will be 60 on my next birthday! I can’t believe I am so old. But I’m feeling good. I’m on a kick now, trying to get in shape. I do a yoga thing first thing every morning, just to get my back working. I’ve been doing it for almost a year now. I just started going to the gym, regularly, again. I’m doing 3-5 miles on the elliptical machine, some weights, and then the treadmill. I haven’t lost any weight yet (sigh!) but maybe that will come. I hope so. I’ve given up my glass(es) of wine at night and am not eating any desserts.
These are the books I am reading now: “Silence”, by Sara Maitland, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage”, by Paul Elie, “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama, and “Left at the Altar, How the Democrats Lost the Catholics” by Michael Sean Winters. I like all of them, and switch from one to the other happily.
The cold weather seems to be gone. THAT was exciting, wasn’t it? I’m a bit worried about a tree in our backyard, though. I didn’t think that we got a hard freeze here, but the leaves are falling off like it is autumn!
Jubilee is 4 years old now, and still as crazy as she was as a puppy. She got her first haircut recently, which makes her beard stand out more. Here is a photo:
Nice beard, eh?
Hang on!
Love, Beth
