Neda and the protests in Iran

To the men and women protesting the recent elections or mock elections in Iran, we in America are watching you and praying for your bravery.  Here in our nation, our freedoms are being grabbed from us in ways we hardly notice under bills and legislation designed to make more and more of us dependent upon our government and yet we remain the symbol of "freedom."

To the family and friends of Neda, we know of the low regard in which women are held under Sharia Law and we pray for all women who live under such tyranny.

But when I see the few videos that have gotten out of Tehran, I am compelled to applaud you who protest the injustices for your bravery; you set an example to the rest of the world that when a government is a theocracy and a tyranny, the only human response is protest.

You who shout to each other in the darkness from the rooftops are showing the rest of the world that you only want freedom and fairness in this election.  You are brave and bold to stand before the forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard - all aligned against you.  Yet, I believe that some in that guard hold the beliefs that you hold.

I do not understand a culture that hangs an innocent woman while the man who committed the murder gets 10 years in prison, or sentences women to prison or to death for defending themselves against rapists.  I can only hope that if you obtain your freedom, you will not turn against me and my family or against my country to kill or injure us under the false name of "religion."

For your bravery, you are a model for all who live under the heavy hand of tyranny.  God bless you and keep you safe in your struggle.