Written by David VanThournout   

There is a funny thing that happens to you when you’re right. You tend to stick to your guns. I normally avoid the military metaphors, but it seems appropriate here.

A long time ago when I was about eleven years old my father thought I’d done something wrong. He was angry and spanked me with his belt. During the spanking I started laughing because it didn’t hurt at all. It was amazing. I was laughing because I knew why it didn’t hurt. My father upon hearing my laughter spanked me even harder. I kept laughing. It still didn’t hurt. When my father lost his steam and put his belt down, I stood up and said; “That didn’t hurt dad. It didn’t hurt because I didn’t do anything wrong. I was telling you the truth.”

He never spanked me again.

I do think I understand. Not just because of a spanking but because I spent six years of my life in prison and yes I’ve gone through solitary confinement. Probably not to the degree that Bradley Manning is experiencing it, but I’ve seen the real deal. And I wasn’t guilty of any crime then either. I’m absolutely an advocate of any prisoners rights but when those prisoners happen to be national heroes like our Mr. Manning is turning out to be, we all should become prisoner advocates.

All indications are that he knows that he is right to have done whatever alleged truth telling he is accused of. This is always a path with heart. I believe that Bradley Manning understands that and this is the source of his strength. The same thing that saw me through 6 very hard years of my life. The same thing that made that spanking not hurt. All they’ve got against us is fear and torment... we have the truth. And that is a different kind of pain. That pain comes from inside us, and can only be relieved when we finally do the right thing and tell the truth.

If Bradley Manning is “guilty” of telling the truth, then he already went through his greatest moment of pain when he made the decision to reveal to the world that war crimes had been committed by American servicemen. A decision I doubt any of us would have taken lightly.

The truth, as it goes about ones mind, engages itself in this quiet gnawing of the soul until it eats it’s way into our vitals and forces us to disclose that which cannot remain hidden any longer. And after that, it becomes much more difficult for that little gnawer “doubt” to invade your peace. Courageous men like Bradley, who has most likely already made the most difficult decision he will ever have to make in his life, are not easily swayed even by the Machiavellian intentions of Our American empire.

Bradley Manning’s bravery is technically not above and beyond the call of duty as his oath as a serviceman is to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”. But we all know in our hearts that he deserves a medal for his extreme bravery.

Bradley Manning makes me proud to be an American.

Related Story:

Breaking news: Manning Supporters Detained by Quantico
http://www.bradleymanning.org/16034/breaking-news-manning-supporters-detained-by-quantico/