Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The one thing I haven't put my foot down on

I can tell you how I feel about abortion, the environment, animal rights, pop music, euthanasia, NBC's Thursday prime time line up and affirmative action. However, I cannot tell you with absolute certainty how I feel about capital punishment.

Today, the 25th person to be executed in Ohio since 1999, was put to death today. Reading his story made me get misty-eyed. For him, for his victim - his ex-wife, and her family. He shot his ex-wife in the head while their two daughters were sleeping. His ex-mother-in-law watched his execution with others and said she wished her daughter had gone as peacefully.

That is sad. Truly sad. Because you can only imagine the pain a parent feels when they have to bury a child - especially when she is taken so violently. And the children who were awaken by the gunshot that killed their mother....by the gun held by their father.

And you think about the man on the table waiting to be injected. Waiting to die. And you think about his last words and how it must feel to know the exact day and time when you're going to die.

For someone who is an absolutist, I can't tell you how I feel. No one gains anything from the death penalty when you think about it, but if you were that woman's mother, how would you feel? This man shot her daughter in the head while she crouched in a closet. But what if you're the mother of a man who was executed only to later be found not guilty?

Opponents of the death penalty will argue that the flaws in our justice system make the death penalty a dangerous gamble. Add on the people who find the methods of executions cruel and unusual punishment. Proponents argue eye for an eye. Your life must be taken for the life you took. Justice prevails.

I can respect the people who have actually lost loved ones to violent acts and still oppose the death penalty. It's hard for me to say that I would oppose it if I haven't experienced the pain of losing someone to a criminal. Much like I can't say that if I woke up pregnant one day that I would run to the nearest abortion clinic.

I think with an issue like this (and many others) a high-level of empathy is required. It is one of those issues that I think can foster common ground. Never mind that pro-lifers are pro-death penalty and pro-choicers are against it. Screw the irony. Today was a sad day for a lot of people in Lucasville.

1 comment:

MisterElle said...

How weird. I was just talking about this yesterday after reading this article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18278575/.

Its weird to think about killing people like this, and then to talk about it being cruel and unusual. Isn't capital punishment cruel and unusual in itself? Its such a tough subject.