Life is hard

Life is hard…

With many obstacles to face and overcome…

Sometimes I get overwhelmed with it all

And I fall.

Into a bottomless pit, with no end in sight.

Until one’s hand, words or light reaches in.

That’s when I realize…I must continue with it all.

For there’s a greater purpose

A change I can cause

With my struggles and experiences

That’s worth it all.

As I overcome another obstacle

Life has thrown

I come to the realization that

Life is hard…

But I can continue on.

Allowing it to enlighten me

Instead of decomposing me.

My 7x6 cell

Four white walls

A stainless steel toilet

And a stainless steel door

A metal slab for a bed

This is my 7x6 cell

Where I am kept in solitary confinement

22 ½ hours, day in and day out

Year after year

Meant to keep my voice from being heard

Kept away from all human contact

Where I’m meant to be forgotten of

Isolation and seclusion is their goal

Losing my sanity is a plus.

Subjected to full body searches

Whenever I’m to leave my cell

Then and only then

Do I have the only physical contact for the day

With metal handcuffs and leg shackles I wear

That dig into my flesh

Leaving me deep embodied scars

That will forever be with me

Like tattoo tears .

This is my abyss

That I attempt to crawl out of

With the beauty I hunger for

Behind my 7x6 cell.

Letter to Obama asking him about his attitude towards the death penalty

President Obama,

First of all I want to commend you for the amount of progress you have done for this country and the amount of help you have provided for countless of other countries.

I write you today in hopes that you answer the questions we pose. I say ‘we’ for this issue is more important than ‘I’. The issue being Capital Punishment otherwise known as the death penalty.

We are curious to know how such a great man like you supports this? It goes against the image you present and it’s such an inhumane punishment. How do you justify the killing of a human being done for and by the state? When and where will you draw the line? Please help us understand the whys on the matter for we have so many unanswered questions.

Being one of 3.297 death row inmates in the U.S. I can’t help but bear witness to the deterioration of countless of “human beings”. I emphasize “human beings” because even though there’s a statue of limitation on our rights we all still have a beating heart! This inhumane and cruel punishment is slowly but surely doing what it’s meant to do and that is killing us slowly.

Since I’ve been on the row I’ve seen countless of people commit suicide, die of natural causes, lose their mind and the very essence of their soul. If this isn’t cruel and unusual punishment then I don’t want to know what is!

The point is that it is not only a cruel and inhumane punishment, but it also does not deter crime or even prevent it! Numerous false convictions and innocent men/women have shown that this system is faulty. How many more individuals have to lose their lives in order to show that there’s something wrong with the system? How many more people will this country kill? The government shouldn’t become murderers themselves! What about being the example of a humane nation? Gandhi said it best: “Be the change you want to see in the world!” President Obama, we ask you to be that change! I end this letter with a slogan you made famous: “Change we can!”

Respectfully,

Carlos M. Argueta Jr.

http://deathpenaltyusa.blogspot.com/2007/02/barack-obama-and-death-penalty.html