A LETTER OF THANKS FROM CONDEMNED PRISONER, TROY DAVIS.
I was made aware of this letter by my wonderful Pax Christi group(Pax Christi, St. Jude's, here in the Atlanta area). This was first published online at:
www.bodyontheline.wordpress.com
I am posting it here, and also at:
www.lisananetteallender.blogspot.com/
because it should be seen by as many people as possible.
Thank you for reading this, and for acting on it, too.
____________________________________________
Marcy Newman October 1, 2008
a letter from troy davis
from amnesty international’s urgent action center
read the letter. click the link above. take a moment to work to save this man’s life. make some time to eradicate the barbaric death penalty.
the words below are his. the bold below is mine:
To all,
I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith.

It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.

As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy.

I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.

I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.

So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated.

There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.

I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing, “I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”

Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!

– Troy Davis

Peace As A Verb!

So I am trying to get a few words and phrases into the accepted vernacular....For example, we may use "war" as both a noun("This war is called the Iraq War.") and a verb("Do not war with your neighbor."), but we never do this with the word Peace. My theory is that unless we make Peace a viable "action-word", or verb--we won't be moved to act on it!
Hence, I must practice what I Peace.
Another word I want put into our everyday vocabulary is a word to substitute for self-less: I suggest it be "self-free". Self-less sounds as though one is made "less than" by being unselfish, when the opposite is true. It is only when one is generous, and giving, that one is able to be set free, and be truly "self-free"--free of ego and superficial measures; free to be open to others, and to be in touch with one's own spirit.
Come to think of it, "child-less" needs to go, too. "Child-less" implies that without children one is "less" because of it. I think "child-free", while possibly controversial(currently, we only say we're "free" of something which is considered bad, as in "fat-free", "cancer-free", etc.) makes the point that some of us choose to focus on other concerns and issues, and are not defined by our ability or propensity to create offspring.

How about you? Can you thinkof a way to use PEACE, AS A VERB? Let me know!
Read more about Lisa Allender, and "Practice What You Peace", and "Lisa Allender Writes".
Check out:
www.lisananetteallender.blogspot.com/
and
www.lisaallender.com
Peace, kids.