I've chosen this week to paraphrase a lengthy email I received, in reaction to my response to a question in which I was recently asked what I thought of the death penalty. Because the email was coloured with lots of derogatory words, and couched in the whole "ask Jesus to forgive you, and accept him as your personal saviour..." routine, I thought it best to simply say that like most of those who seem incapable of recognising how potentially dangerous having someone as inept as Sarah Palin in office would be, this person was "morally outraged" that I would have no problem burning the flag, and that I oppose the death penalty.
My favourite line in the email, however, said: "I [sic] bet if someone you loved was raped and beaten you'd change your tune..."
Well, Virginia, not only is there no Santa Claus (or adequate grammar instruction, apparently), but you see, someone I love was raped and brutally beaten, with a loaded gun put to their head, and the trigger pulled. (It fortunately misfired.) It happened on the 10th of May, in 1983. And the "loved one" who was the victim was me.
And I still oppose the death penalty.
While there are a number of reasons for finding murder an unacceptable solution to heinous crimes, the most fundamental reason I am compelled to work for the abolition of such barbarism is because it deprives another human being of the possibility for self-redemption.
Each of us, according to our circumstances, environment and opportunities, can better ourselves, or become worse. Each of us has made, and will likely continue to make mistakes and errors in judgment... some worse than others.
Make no mistake about it: I consider such things as drunk driving, murder, rape, torture, reckless endangerment, terrorism and other so-called capital offenses to be unacceptable, horrific and the worst kinds of crimes. The crimes themselves are evil. And I am in favour of bringing criminals to justice.
But you see, I perceive a remarkable difference between seeing a criminal act as being "evil" or "horrific", and labelling a person as "evil" or "horrific". I believe that the crimes of the Bush Cabal ought to result in an international tribunal trying King Duhhbya the Illiterate and his band of terrorists. And I believe they ought to be punished for their crimes, particularly the loss of lives on September 11th and in their unprovoked war that followed. But as intrinsically evil as I believe their actions were, I do not believe it is possible to consider Duhhbya the Inept as being evil himself. He is a person, and I don't believe a person is capable of "being" evil. Their actions can fail to reflect the inherent goodness of all life.
When a bear attacks a tourist, we do not consider the bear to be evil. Neither should we, in my opinion, treat human beings any less.
Unfortunately, there are people who are not at all concerned about the harm they inflict on others. These individuals accumulate massive amounts of negative karma, and bring suffering upon themselves in this and many future lives. But we must guard ourselves against accumulating even greater karmic consequences ourselves, by calling for a violent response to the violence of another.
I have vowed my life to protect all beings from suffering, so far as I am possible, and to alleviate the suffering of others, whenever and wherever I can.
Therefore, it is impossible for me to rationally justify something as awful as the death penalty.
Namasté!
Internationally respected, life coach and teacher, Lama Gurudas Sunyatananda (Dr. F. Gianmichael Salvato, O.C., M.Sc.) is a Buddhist and Franciscan contemplative, and author of the popular book, "The Dharma of Compassion - One Monk's Reflections on the Teachings of the Enlightened and Anointed Ones". He is best known for his on-going contributions to helping people unlock the power of their own minds -- teaching them how to apply that power to create strong, loving relationships, make more money, and live more meaningful, prosperous, health and satisfying lives.
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