Please, Mr. President

Dear Mr. President,

You're a pretty busy man. And this I understand. But see, I've written you before and well, that was a while ago, and it just doesn't seem like much has changed since then.

Sir, picture this with me: think of your wife and two girls, and you in prison in another country. How would your kids feel if they had to go on living their lives if you were unavoidably detained elsewhere? Think of how your wife would feel, having to basically raise them by herself. Don't think of the torture you may have sustained, the malnourishment, the total cut off from communication to your family, the fact that you can't even pick up the phone to hear your wife's voice, or watch a cute video on your phone of your daughter's birthday party. Don't think about the fact that maybe all the people in your prison pick out you to hate. Don't imagine the insanity you would begin to feel in the dark solitude. Don't think of the months and months that have stretched into years that have driven a gap between you and your loved ones. Don't think of abyss that you face every time your conscious. Just think of your wife, and your babies, without you.

Mr. President, doesn't that break your heart? Doesn't it devastate you to imagine your little girls celebrating another year of their life...without you? Or to picture your wife celebrating your wedding anniversary across the table from an empty chair?

Now Mr. President, think of your country. If your country had any power at all, to bring you back to the arms of your family, wouldn't you hope, and pray, and maybe expect that to be happening? Now imagine that your country could do something, and didn't.

Mr. President! Search your heart! Doesn't this disturb your soul?

I ask for one last thing. Think of the man sitting in a prison on the other side of the world. The man who has suffered all this and more. Think of your fellow man, another human being, loved by God, suffering unthinkable things, and do for him what you would want him to do for you. Do everything in your power to bring this American citizen home to his family. And until that time comes, what are you doing for his young bride who is living the life of a widow, leader her family by herself? I beg of you, what would you want done? Are you doing it?

Mr. President, its time to bring Saeed home.

Signed,
An American citizen