My Biggest Regret By Jonathan Eddie Hartley

Here is an excerpt from a letter I received from Eddie months ago and it inspired me so much and gave me the much needed fuel to continue to press forward and fight for not only him but all of the children he represents. I want people to understand that these are children being sent to die in prison with no chance for relief or hope for the future. I believe they should be punished but it should be taken into consideration the age in which they committed the crime and the fact that their brains aren't fully developed. Do they know right from wrong? Of course however it is fact that children act first and think later. How many times have either we ourselves or our children done something that they have been told NOT to do? My grandparents told me of the dangers of sex and I didn't listen and became a teenage parent. I tell my daughter daily to make good choices and to be quiet during class because school is not for socialization yet learning and time and time and again throughout the years she comes home with a sad face or bad behavior report. I threaten her with punishment all the time about keeping her room clean and well lets just say it isn't clean as I type this. Children need constant reinforcement and have to be nurtured and loved. Even sometimes as parents when we do everything right our children will stray away. There are a lot of negative influences out there be it friends, money, drugs, alcohol and sex that can entice young people. As a community we have to pray hard that these influences don't get a hold of them. Once they do oftentimes its too late when we have realized that the consequences are real and have to live with regrets..... Excerpt from Eddie's Letter: "I try to always be positive you know, I wanna learn about business . I wanna learn about my culture and black leaders. I wanna learn about politics. I wanna learn about all the good things in life but I don't have the tools but that doesn't make me quit it makes me want to learn more, so thank you for the Malcolm X book. My biggest regret is making this decision to that landed me in prison and blowing all of my dreams. I was a great basketball and football player I was trying to go somewhere with that but I just made a dumb decision. I beat myself up all the time about it man if I could go back I would have just walked away. I know that's my biggest regret because it weighs heavily on my mind daily. I have learned that one mistake can mess up your whole life. I learned that the actions and decisions that I make don't effect just me but a lot of different people. I also learned its easy to get in trouble but hard as hell to get out. I learned to strive for excellence and be the best I can no matter the situation. I learned to NEVER GIVE UP HOPE (this is when my tears began to fall). I learned a lot and I still got a lot to learn ya know........FREE LIL EDDIE