THANKSGIVING

I want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and a joyous holiday season.

Thank you to everyone who has logged on to our website and for everyone who has invested the time reading the information herein. As well as for everyone who has signed my change.org. Thank you.I have always loved Thanksgiving. Good food, family and an appreciation for life and all its many blessings opens up our minds and our hearts to something larger than ourselves. I think there is something profound in the giving of thanks. It unlocks a humility in us. Especially when we are able to find things to be grateful for even when things aren’t as good as we would like them to be. It’s far easier to be grateful when all is going well in life. I think many of us have been moved and inspired when thanks is given by those who have suffered or been through life changing tragedy.

After all these years I have been in prison, I admit to going through periods where I find being grateful difficult. However, I gave my life to Christ 17 years ago and in the years since then I have always been grateful for my relationship with God through Jesus Christ despite the many adversities that have threatened to steal my gratitude.

Many Christians will be familiar with the biblical verse from Philippians that reads: “Be anxious for nothing but in everything with prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be known to God and the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus.” I haven’t always felt comfortable sharing my faith publicly because I am aware of the damage “Jailhouse Religion” has done to the Christian faith. Anyone can find God in a prison cell but living for God and living out one’s faith in an authentic way is another story. Especially when things aren’t going very well. This is my 25 year in prison and my 24th Thanksgiving incarcerated. I am 55 years old and can’t think of time. I have been more worn out by the tragedy that keeps me in prison. I lost my mother in May. We shared a good relationship with each other for the last 15 years of her life. I miss her and everything she ever brought to my life. I am thankful for what we had as mother and son and as friends but I will always regret the years we wasted being angry and unforgiving with each other. I have learned that it’s hard to be thankful and angry at the same time which is why I try to live out another Bible verse found in Ephesians which says, “let all bitterness, and wrath and anger and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you. ”The Bible is often much easier to quote than it is to practically live out: God help me to live as forgiving as I’ve been forgiven.

With regards to my relationship with society, I hope that I can be reconciled and restored back into a place with my family, friends and fellow citizens. What crimes do you think a man would have to have committed to be incarcerated for 25 years? I have tried to understand why we as a society would need to keep someone incarcerated for 25 years. And which of the following reasons would best explain and justify why I have been incarcerated for this long? I agree we need to punish criminal behavior and impose a debt owed to society. Years of imprisonment often serves to accomplish this in many instances. Some crimes are so egregious that it justifies decades of incarceration. I think most would agree some offenders will always present a threat to society and therefore justify decades of incarceration and even life sentences. Rehabilitation & Reform are idealistic reasons for lengthy prison sentences but without release or the possibility of release we never achieve rehabilitation and reform. I have accepted responsibility for the decisions I’ve made and for my actions that have put me in this position in life. However, I struggle to understand why I’m still in prison after 25 years and I can’t grasp which of the reasons listed above could be used to justify it. I’m not bitter or resentful but I am tired as I continue to struggle and grow old here for some reason that eludes me at this time. If I die in prison after having served 30, 40 or even 50 years of incarceration, who among us will say, “he not only paid his debt but justice has been served?”

We started this website because of the power of social media that has been known to move mountains. I pray for your help this Thanksgiving and holiday season to make it my last. Please help me by sharing our website and by signing my change.org in support of my release. In closing I want to thank my family for all their loving support over all these years.

Thank you to my father for his friendship and patience with me. Thanks to Faith, his wife of more than 40 years for being so much to me and my life. She has been like a mother, sister, and a friend and I am thankful for your family love and support. I am so thankful for my sister Tami who has fought and sacrificed for me and has yet to give up on me. Thanks to my other 2 siblings Chris and Courtney for enduring the hardship that has become our family’s circumstances. Thanks to my beloved daughter Ariel who now lives in Japan with her husband and my grandchildren. Thank you to our family friend Jay who has been fighting and advocating for me and our family for the last 5 years. I am grateful for your faith and belief in me. Last but not least, I am so thankful for the angel who has found me and blessed me and my life with friendship, love, support and hope. Thank you to my wife Leonor for everything you have brought into my life.

Happy Thanksgiving and holiday season to all.

Thank you

Jeffrey Shortal