Christian Living

---

Larry Lilly’s Letter Wednesday August 16, 2006

My article on Sarah Olson, the sweet little apple pie backing terrorist from Minnesota brought a number of responses, two that I will share with you.

The first from J.A. Bennett came in the form of a critique from my article in Faith Writers.com.

“Larry, a good article which raises two interesting points. Sarah Olson expected her prison experience to be "educational." It is. She has learned, that instead of attempting to improve the opportunities for those who are incarcerated, the individuals who run our penal systems simply warehouse people. At the same time, they erect barriers to prevent those same prisoners from any effort at self improvement. Presumably, this is done to "punish" those whom society has labeled as "unclean" or Pariahs. The result is predictable and, with a sudden upsurge in violent crime, we are reaping the rewards. As you pointed out, Sarah will be released in 2009. Most of the folks in prison will also, at some point, rejoin us in the free world. If you cage an animal for a number of years, deny it adequate medical care, provide sometimes inedible food, actively refuse any sort of training, just for fun, poke it with a sharp stick repeatedly at irregular intervals, what do you think will happen when you let him out? Would you like to be the one to open the cage door? Sarah does have some opportunities for growth. They are not the traditional ones and would not readily occur to anyone unless that person already possessed an above average intellect and a rampant imagination. This does not describe the vast majority of the almost 3 million people incarcerated in the United States.
J. A. Bennett”

The next seems to add to Mr. Bennett’s thoughts in a positive way.

“Dear Larry, Thanks for the article on Sarah. I have followed her case and honestly feel some sort of amnesty should have been offered as in the case of the infamous Eldridge Cleaver. Certainly Sarah has made a more positive life change than did Cleaver who walked for numerous horrendous crimes against America and later biblical Christianity. As to reform within prison walls, I observe that true reform must take place within the human heart, and this through faith in Christ and this faith must not be the easy believism type, but of the Apostle Paul and Zacchaeus strain. Sarah needs to get off of the idea of ‘protecting’ herself from her past, but rather use it to help others through the lessons learned from her background and experience. I served over four years in prison and watched as very well educated men would come in and withdraw into a shell of selfishness and never lift a finger to help, even a simple thing like read mail to men who could not read. I also watched men from the same backgrounds come in and go to work quietly helping men from the ghettos etc learn basic life skills and make their time count for the betterment of others. True, not much went on for the betterment of those fortunate enough to have enjoyed the higher and better things of life, but we took some sense of accomplishment in helping the less fortunate.
M. Branham”

Often, insight is found in strange places, from strange sources. The following quote is a case in point:

“We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.”
- R. Buckminster Fuller

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2006 Use with credit.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE