Steve Buyer: “As all of us get to know Sam, and we see him daily, Sam's voice gives meaning to many who were held as prisoner and…”

“As all of us get to know Sam, and we see him daily, Sam's voice gives meaning to many who were held as prisoner and allows us to have a deeper appreciation of what it means to lose your liberty. And what Sam Johnson has been able to teach all of us is that someone may take away your freedom, someone may beat you and torture you, but they can never touch your character. And what Sam teaches us daily is it is about the power of the individual, and it comes from your character and it comes from who you are morally and spiritually as a person. It is about who you are with your values and your virtues that defines human dignity. When you define that and you're comfortable about yourself, it doesn't matter what someone ever does to you. When you think about and you read the book on Sam Johnson's life, you have a much deeper understanding of what this man went through, but he was able to endure because he was comfortable with who he was as a person. Now, what Sam does, and he is so humble, is that he then takes that and teaches all of us not only about what they went through, but how each of us, as Americans, should rise to understand each other with greater dignity.”