Monday, December 12, 2005

Walking In the Shadow of Death

He's paid what he's owed. He's square with the house again... - The Green Mile

As of right now, Tookie Williams is set to die in, say, 9 hrs.

To which I regretfully say... "eh... oh well."

You see, my concern is not so much about his dying is it is about the fact that people are pushing for him to live.

A few years back, some may remember that a nice white lady killer was born again in the big house church and became a leader of faith for those in that jail. Because of her repentance and new found faith there was a pro-life push by the faith coalition (aka: the Christian right). Well.. it didn't work and in the end she was able to get closer to Jesus by being killed by the state.. much like he was.

Her killing and Tookie's impending death bring a lot of questions to the table about the death penalty, it's usage, and the government condoning killing.

You see, folks, I am a sorta lenient pro-lifer. I don't personally like abortion and I hate the death penalty. However, as a guy I will never need an abortion because it appears we don't get pregnant and I am hopeful I will never have the position of having the power to kill someone. That said... if people die (which people tend to do for various reasons) then I will not protest. It is life and life is one part luck and another part choices. I also will not push my beliefs onto anyone else.

I do think that the government should only kill people when they have mastermind the killing of mass people. Hitler should die. Saddam should die. Pol Pot should be killed.. and all of these people should have their deaths televised. I think we ought to respect death by not killing people like Tookie and truly save it for the criminals who have promoted genocide or killing on level that cannot be adequately punished by life in prison.

Tookie made some bad choices. He killed people. He didn't HAVE to kill people. If he had wanted to kill people the government would have paid for him to kill all kinds of people overseas and yet he killed innocent regular people here in the great state of California for God knows what reason. Cali has been a death state for a while... and uh... you see where he is now.

Now, the man is moving through lawyers, press and celebrity to stay here on God's green earth. The very same earth he denied for others years ago. They say he's changed, he's regretful and has moved for peace. He wrote books. Wrote speeches. Guest appearance on "Hang Time". Nobel Prize finalist. Yet we cannot ignore the voices of the victims... the families of the people he killed. They are ready for him to die. Not saying either side is right.. but we have to examine that side too.

As he tries to save himself, though, I cannot help but thinking that he may be acting as selfish as he was when he killed those people. It is impossible to think that his recent positive actions are not directly born from the fact that not only did he do something wrong and is being forced to pay the piper... but that he is sensing the end is neigh and would like to do the right thing before he died (or maybe to postpone that death). In that, the most responsible thing he can do IS die... with honor and with a voice of regret and with a message of where he has been and where he is now. When he passes his legacy will not be one who skirted death by changing his life but one that died with dignity by acknowledging a past of wrongdoing and aiding in ensuring that his life and subsequent death would as serve as an example of how important the decisions we make EVERY day are and how precious life is.

As I finish this, Tookie has approximately 8 hours to live. Gov. Schwarzenegger has just denied him the chance to live. I pray Stanley "Tookie" Williams looks into himself and to his faith for strength. If our lives are defined by actions, we cannot forget that even in death redemption is possible if we choose to die in the same manner we live... with dignity and with purpose.

1 comment:

Shawn said...

nicely stated.

I kept thinking to myself, how embarrassing must it be to have to ask ah-nold 'the terminator' for the right to live? If it were me, and arnold was my last hope, I would said screw it kill me now.