An Eye For An Eye Leaves the Whole World Blind

We've all heard the sentence passed down before. It's a point of great contention in forums everywhere. Should the death penalty be legal? The first time the death penalty was used, the government that instituted it was using an "eye-for-an-eye" approach. If someone stole, the offending hand was cut off. If someone murdered, then they were executed. The statement that the use of the death penalty tries to get across is that human life is sacred.

In that light, how can a human judge pass such a sentence? To be sure, a judge must make difficult decisions everyday and pass down sentences that befit the crimes committed, but the death penalty is not one that state officials – or anyone for that matter – should be charged with making. There are other alternatives to punish someone for a crime so grievous that the death penalty could come into play. Life imprisonment is an option.

Then, of course, is the issue with false imprisonment. Say someone has been falsely accused and convicted. If they were sentenced to death, there is no way that wrong can be corrected. If that person were interred for life, then they could be released. There can be no mistakes made when issuing the death penalty. All humans make mistakes. There is no way around that. And so there is no way to make absolute sure that someone will not be mistakenly convicted for a crime they did not commit.

I do not believe that the death penalty should be used. The margin for error is too great; you can not undo death. There is no chance for a retrial to correct wrongs if they are made. I do not feel that one human being has the right to decide whether or not another human being should live or die.

This blog post is an official entry for the Law Blogger’s Scholarship, sponsored by The Law Office of Joshua Pond, http://www.joshuapondlaw.com.

One for All and All for Me

          Remember those days when you were young and your mother or father would take you to the store and give you five bucks? “Choose wisely,” they may have admonished and left you to stare at the shelves in wonder, holding that crisp five dollar bill and feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders. Five dollars is not a lot of money and even a small purchase would wipe out most of it. Should you save it? The latest Transformer was right in front of you and it was calling your name. But not only would that use all of your money, you would need a small loan from the parental unit that dragged you into the situation in the first place. Out of the corner of your eye, you spot to aforementioned parent lumbering toward you. Time for decision is running out. With a sigh, you recall the last time you asked for a loan. Not only did you get shut down, you received a lecture on fiscal responsibility – well, the seven-year-old appropriate version of a fiscal responsibility lecture. Unwilling to walk out of the store empty-handed, you reach for the 98 cent yoyo. It doesn’t matter that you already own five of them; it is the only item on the shelf that will allow you the satisfaction of a purchase and leave you with enough left over so that you can purchase the Transformer the next time you are given money to go shopping.

            This decision process is something that the average adult no longer has to go through. The concept of walking out of a store without the item that you really and truly wanted – or at least thought you wanted – is nearly obsolete. The creation of the credit card has allowed members of society to throw caution to the wind. Not having cash on hand is no longer a problem; credit cards let you make purchases without having to worry about the paycheck that you’ve already spent.

Every year, the average American household has a credit card debt of between 5% and 12% of their income.[1] Only 16% of this debt is paid each month on average.[2]  So while Americans are filling their homes with knick-knacks and products that have the potential to increase the ease of their lives, they are increasing the risk of losing their homes due to bankruptcy.  A majority of Americans are spending so much of their future earnings that they are beginning to spend their retirement funds.[3] Credit was not always used so recklessly. In colonial America, credit was used to aid in the purchases of everyday items. In those times, towns were smaller and the owners of produce stands and general stores knew their customers’ names and addresses. Credit was a way for busy mothers to send their children to the market without having to worry about doling out correct change. The bill was paid off weekly and it socially unacceptable to carry large amounts of debt.

Credit since then has ballooned into a large crisis. We’ve gotten so used to having what we want when we want it how we want it that denying ourselves to preserve our future is a difficult concept. Instantaneous gratification dulls the true sense of joy of obtaining something that you had to work hard and save for. Credit card companies have induced this false sense of kingliness in which we feel that there is no reason to stop us from having what we want. This sense of entitlement is perpetrating a debt crisis. Instead of our purchases enhancing our lives, they are adding to our stress levels and contributing to America’s financial situation.

---

[1] http://www.credit.com/credit_information/debt_help/Five-Shocking-Credit-Card-Debt-Statistics.jsp

[2] http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Business/story?id=1457162#.TuAZNbLNltM

[3] http://www.bestcashcow.com/articles/facts-about-credit-card-debt-in-the-united-states-7670

small object, LARGE SUBJECT prewrite

Remember those days when you were young and your mother or father would take you to the store and give you five bucks? “Choose wisely,” they may have admonished and left you to stare at the shelves in wonder, holding that crisp five dollar bill and feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders. Five dollars is not a lot of money and even a small purchase would wipe out most of it. Should you save it? The latest Transformer was right in front of you and it was calling your name. But not only would that use all of your money, you would need a small loan from the parental unit that dragged you into the situation in the first place. Out of the corner of your eye, you spot to aforementioned parent lumbering toward you. Time for decision is running out. With a sigh, you recall the last time you asked for a loan. Not only did you get shut down, you received a lecture on fiscal responsibility – well, the seven-year-old appropriate version of a fiscal responsibility lecture. Unwilling to walk out of the store empty-handed, you reach for the 98 cent yoyo. It doesn’t matter that you already own five of them; it is the only item on the shelf that will allow you the satisfaction of a purchase and leave you with enough left over so that you can purchase the Transformer the next time you are given money to go shopping.

            This decision process is something that the average adult no longer has to go through. The concept of walking out of a store without the item that you really and truly wanted – or at least thought you wanted – is nearly obsolete.

first thoughts

To be honest, Dr.Lay, i have not thought about my draft for project 2 because i suffer from this disease called procrastination. It causes me to occasionally wonder about the work which shall be due soon without actually attempting to start work. but to be serious, i find that my best writing is done under pressure.

and from the ashes of a wedding...

i find it fitting that beatrice and bennidick's love flourishes in the aftermath of of hero and claudio's failed wedding. their's is a love that almost thrives on misunderstanding and chaos. it's that that wonderful fictional beast, the phoenix. It rises from ashes as something new and bold and beautiful.

let's talk about family disfunction

i should hope that in the case where i am accused of doing something dreadful that my father would give me the benefit of the doubt. that he would at least take a moment to recollect his wits and think rationally about the situation. "i know this to be true about my beloved daughter..." or something along those lines. rather than assume that the bearers of mine sordid tale held absolute truth and, in his rage, attempt to choke the life out of me for my transgression.

let us cogitate on the customs in the time period of, Much Ado About Nothing. while sex was a much more open and less taboo thing than it is now, sex out of marriage wasn't really something that happened a lot. and that could have been for a number of reasons. maybe because they married so much younger than we do now they didn't really have the urge or the opportunity to have sex outside of marriage. so when claudio accuses hero of having been clever enough to find the time and the lust to do just that, it really says something. remember, that family honor was everything and hero's indiscretion has brought shame upon her father and her upbringing. marriages weren't really for love, they were more sociopolitical contracts. no one wants to enter into contract with someone who is know for doing dirty business. if your daughter has a habit of sneaking around with men who are not her betrothed, no other family is going to want to make a fool of themselves by attaching themselves to you and your out of control household. if we consider all of these, then leonato's actions [trying to kill hero after he is told of her so-called promiscuity] seem much more in context.

i don't think that i can defend the claim that this announcement returns the play to the status quo because, even for shakespeare, this seems a bit over the top.

Real Talk [Sonnet II]

when you're 40
and the wrinkles have begun to take over your face
the way you looked when you were young and pretty
will be a distant memory of the past
like the fashion of yesteryear
then, when they ask you, "what happened? Where'd all your good looks go?"
you'll have to say, with your deeply shadowed eyes,
"I wasted my youth on myself
I never found anyone else..."
looking back, your stunning beauty would have been so much more astonishing
if you could point to your kid and and say,
"They're just as beautiful as I was, maybe even more,"
then perhaps,we could imagine you to be just a little more beautiful than you really are.
Kids bring you joy in your old age.