Today I saw a bumper sticker that read, “Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?” Amen to that! That pretty much sums up how I feel about the death penalty.
I am approaching this topic from a very 4th dimensional perspective, and if you follow my reasoning along this path you might agree with me. No one has the right to prematurely end another’s life. I don’t care if it’s one person to another, or one country to another. Purposely ending the experience of an incarnated soul breaks a spiritual chain. It’s like purposely removing a piece from a puzzle; if you do that, you can never really see the true picture. You can infer, but you can’t really know.
What about people who murder children or kill thousands of people with a bomb? Same thing. We, as a society, do not have the right to kill … anyone … for any reason, whatsoever. It amazes me that it’s illegal to kill yourself but it’s perfectly fine to bomb another country and kill innocent children. If a person wants to end their own life and they are fully aware of the consequences (spiritual and physical) of doing so, then more power to them. Sometimes going “home” is the only option to end suffering. But that’s up to the person making that decision.
If we don’t kill the murderers, then what are we supposed to do with them? That’s a great question. But just because we may not have the best answer to that question doesn’t mean we should give up trying to find one. I personally believe that when someone callously and without conscience takes the life of another human being that they should be removed from society and rehabilitated. Not with punishment and control but with love. I know, I know. It sounds like I’m living in a dream world (wouldn’t be the first time 😉 ). But in an ideal world, people wouldn’t dream of taking the life of another human being. If we could learn to love and to teach our children how to love, if we can teach our children the value of existence, if we can show love and compassion to everyone then we’ll never have to figure out what to do with murderers because there won’t be any.
What about the victims and their families? Don’t they deserve justice? The victims and their families deserve compassion, love, support, and healing. I’m not saying murderers should walk free and go to Disneyland. People who are unable to respect the personal rights of others should not be allowed to be with others. In a perfect world, they should be removed to an island, given serious rehabilitation, given tons of love and support, and when they are ready, they should be integrated back into society. They shouldn’t sit around in a jail cell; they should be shown how to love and learn to be contributing members of society. Arbitrary prison sentences are stupid. Who knows if a criminal will be rehabilitated in 6 years or 50? A criminal should stay on the island until he or she is fully rehabilitated. Or, they should live out the rest of their lives on that island, away from society.
What about an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? Totally misinterpreted, people. That doesn’t mean that if someone slaps you that you should slap them back. An eye for an eye means that when you hurt someone, you are hurt. Your soul is hurt. Your karma is sown. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and all that. If someone harms me that’s something they have to bear. If I harm them back, we’re not even. Now we’re both going to reap karma for our actions.
We need to spend more time teaching our children to grow up compassionately instead of finding new ways to punish people who commit crimes. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
A murderer should be given the opportunity to make amends for their actions. Hey, it may never happen, but they should still be given the opportunity.
If you are in favor of the death penalty just remember that you are in favor of murder. Call it justified if you want, it’s still murder.
