For Those About To Die.

A friend of mine once said that if the world, or a country, can be put at peace by executing people who have been convicted of certain crimes even if it is known that a percentage of them are innocent, she would be ok with that. As she explained it, the minimal margin of error is negligible. Decent people have the right to feel safe where ever they go.

Before you even crank the gears of your brain and disagree with her, know that many countries including America, Bangladesh, China, India, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Thailand have death penalties for crimes ranging from murder to illegal possession of narcotics. Many enact death penalties as a deterrent to crime.

There had been so many movies made about executions. From two recent Oscar nominated movies, The Green Mile and Dead Man Walking, to a documentary feature, like The Thin Blue Line, people from both the sides of the fence have been given ample chance to tell their stories. Some of these people remain entrenched in their views. And while no major Hollywood movie has ever actually take the stance of being for executions, no doubt subtle approaches to it have been made in the past.

Since The Green Mile is the most recent movie I've seen that took a stand on it, I'll write with that in mind. The Green Mile is the narrow strip of green linoleum that stretched across the death row prison cell to the electric chair. The story unfolds in flashback as an old man called Paul Edgecomb (Dabbs Greer) tells his story of how he used to be the warden of death row. Young Paul (Tom Hanks) is given the task to execute John Coffey (Michael Clark Duncan) convicted of raping and murdering two white little girls. Usually, Paul is certain that whoever it is that ended up there on the mile deserved to die. But with Coffey, he has his doubts, something that is not welcomed for an executioner.
 

For Those About To Kill.

Executions, the eye for an eye killing, has long been with us since the days of Caine and Abel. Before that, we have Eek Eek and Ouk Ouk, the homo erectus. It has been written as a method of punishment for both pagan and institutionalized religion alike. Cannibalistic tribes take the cake, of course (pun intended). Then as the world began to get civilized, we did away with the barbaric ways of execution and instead invented new methods of execution that did away with all that blood and gore. Joan of Arc would be pleased to know that those who died after her were not flame-broiled, crispy with a tinge of tarragon.

Proponents of the death penalty insists that technically, the modern methods are painless. The argument against it is that if it's so painless, why wouldn't terminally ill people that live in countries where euthanasia is legal do not opt to pass on using these methods? It's not like you have to get new equipment.

Let's give the proponents of the death penalty an option since they do want justice to be served. Let's ask that they use carbon monoxide instead of cyanide. Think about it. They can start with a low dose of it while they're strapping the guy, since CO (my chemistry class harks back) is odorless and colorless. All the deathrow inmate will feel is a little drowsy and then off he goes. And really, what's the rush? If the victims family can wait years before the inmate gets in the chamber, the least they could do is wait for another half hour for the sake of painlessness.

Let's face it. They want these bastards to die because they've killed people you cared for and loved. I believe I'd feel the same way too.  But the only justice, if you could call it that, is to kill them exactly the way your loved ones were killed. That way these sons of bitches can experience the sheer terror of dying a violent and painful death. Instead, we invent ways of execution and justify it by claiming that these ways are less painful and more humane. But who are we fooling? It's still just killing another human being with a mask on, albeit not a hockey mask.

No man (and woman) would actually want to rape and strangle another man with his underwear to make the perpetrator suffer the way their loved ones suffer at the time of death. We just want the guy dead in the fastest way possible. And then what?

Ok, so maybe execution is not the answer. Maybe making them suffer for the rest of their lives would. Like cutting off their limbs, their penises and breasts, and keep them in a room where other limbless convicts lie in bed, waiting for their natural death to come, where they wail as loud as they can but no one in there could hear what they are saying because all of them are made deaf. Still, then what?

The pain of loss is still there. The only way to get rid of it is to forgive the undeserving fucks and hope he or she would rot in jail. You won't be happy right there and then but you'd be free, free from the 'what ifs' and 'I should'ves'. One should move on from pain as soon as one could..
 

For Those Who Want To Live.

In the end of The Green Mile, Paul ended his stint at the mile after witnessing the greatest injustice of all: an innocent man murdered by ignorant, innocent people hell bent on wanting justice to be done. He spends his last remaining years seeking peace, asking for forgiveness and asking for release from his long life.

Losing someone you love to a violent and senseless death is something I haven't experienced and I hope I never will. But I do sincerely hope that if that fate befalls me, I would find in me the courage to forgive. It is still the hardest virtue human beings could attain.

An eye for an eye will leave the world blind. Let's not make it so. There's so much beauty to behold..

WetWetWet

PS — You can't stop the killing but you can stop tolerating them.

Some links to consider....

http://www.derechos.net/amnesty/dp/methods.html
http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/just/death/deathrow.html
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/deathrow/deathrow_execut.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/death/carroll.htm