Category: random thoughts

usually you read articles of people who are pro-death penalty changing to anti-death penalty, not the other way around. this is an article of a woman whose husband’s cousin was killed who swapped views.

I was in court for the penalty phase, and as I listened to witnesses testify on his behalf, I was surprised at how indifferent I was to his personal plight. I didn’t much care that his family had escaped from Vietnam and that he’d had problems assimilating to American culture, or that his parents had a difficult time keeping him out of trouble.

Before this happened, I likely would have argued that this young defendant had extenuating circumstances beyond his control. But not anymore. Maybe it’s because my daughter is almost the same age as Constantine was when he was killed, or maybe it’s because the reality of experience trumps theoretical beliefs. Whatever the reason, when I looked at the young man sitting at the defense table, I didn’t see a victim. All I saw was the man who took my family member’s life.

read the full article here

to me this brings up a valuable point, made very well in a debate prep session on the west wing (yes, i do watch other things… none the less, the point is well made in the following dialogue:)

Toby
Mr. President, this next question is on capital punishment, which you oppose: If your youngest daughter Zoey was raped and murdered, would you not want to see the man responsible put to death?

Bartlet
First of all, it’s important to understand the President doesn’t make that decision, though he appoints the Supreme Court Justices who do so. What… any… um… All right, I’m not going to say that. I’ll just go right to… No, I don’t. I think you know that I’m opposed…. [sighs] Let’s not do that. I haven’t seen any evidence that it’s a deterrent, and there are more effective… In my state…

Toby
Oh, my God.

Bartlet
What?

Toby
What’s the matter with you? When I left you… I just mentioned your daughter being murdered, and you’re giving us an answer that’s not only soporific, it’s barely human! Yes, you’d want to see him put to death. You’d want it to be cruel and unusual, which is why it’s probably a good idea that fathers of murder victims don’t have legal rights in these situations.

i suppose my point is this: i completely understand where this woman is coming from, but i don’t believe it makes her position right. were someone to kill someone close to me, i would likely want them to suffer, but our justice system is not based on my feelings – rather it should be based on fairness, impartiality, and respect for human life.

this particular moment comes back to me now, on this day for some reason. i was driving home for Christmas listening to one of my favorite WW episodes when a particular scene struck me in a certain way for the first time:

Josh
So this is gonna be my reaction every time I hear music?

Stanley
(with a chuckle) No.

Josh
Why not?

Stanley
Because we get better.

Whatever the wounds of the past or the state of the present, the wonderful promise and beautiful hope for each of us is that we get better.

My prayer for you is that in your pain, whatever it may be, you will find healing, if only in small steps, and that with each step, you will draw closer to the eternal healing of God almighty.

an amazing dialogue off of last night’s west wing:

Chinese Ambassador
You know what I think about a lot when I’m having these kinds of discussions?
C.J. Cregg
What sir?
Chinese Ambassador
Capitalism vanquished Communism. Obliterated it. And here we are having a discussion where you are trying to restrict our markets.
C.J. Cregg
We’re trying to address a humanitarian situation in the Sudan.
Chinese Ambassador
Exactly. But you have always taught us that liberty is the same thing as capitalism – as if life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness cannot be crushed by greed. Your “American Dream” is financial – not ethical.

check out shannon’s post here for a rather good reflective look at growing up in general.

By the time we become adults we realize that Disneyland is nothing more than a well marketed amusement park with mediocre rides & over priced soft drinks. But a child still knows how to expect, to long for something. A child has not been broken of the belief that just around the embankment there lies a joy worth waiting for.

…

Somehow — despite our expectations — these places do manage to change us. The difference, however, between the child and the adult is that of expectations not personal transformation. The child expects something unreasonable (lifelong happiness from an amusement park), and the adult is unwilling to expect anything for fear of disappointment.

We’re saying “Let’s learn from all of our denominational heritage. Let’s even learn from the weaknesses of church history.”
Now there’s a tendency among some of us from Protestant backgrounds – we’ve been part of a history that goes like this: “Ok – we’re all Catholic over here.” And then some of us say, “There are problems in Catholicism. There are real problems here. So we’re going to protest Catholicism, and pull over here. Now – we’re pure and we’ve got it right, unlike them over there.”

But what happens after about six months when all of us “pure” people are together? Some of us say, “Well you’re not as pure as I am.” So then we protest and create another little group over here. And pretty soon everybody is protesting everybody else.

And one of the downsides of that protest is that when you think that your little group is pure and clean, the chances are very high of you also becoming proud and arrogant, which is not a good recipe for spiritual health.

So what we’re saying is, “No – let’s go back and let’s own and embrace the whole tree. We’re part of the whole thing.” And that means that we embrace the mistakes. And instead of saying, “These are their mistakes, these are Catholic mistakes. These are liberal mistakes. These are conservative mistakes,” we say, “No – these are our mistakes.” In our Christian history, brothers and sisters, we have anti-semitism, racism, slavery, witch burning, civil religion, financial scandals, sexual scandals, suppression of science, anti-intellectualism, anti-art, and a lot of other bad stuff, and it’s in our history, and I think we are less likely to repeat it if we own it. So what we’re saying is, “Let’s own the weaknesses, and let’s own the strengths.” St. Francis and John Calvin, Mother Teresa and Billy Graham, Bono, Bach and the negro spirituals, Pentecostalism and Greek Orthodoxy, Cathedrals and Christian summer camps, it’s all part of this wonderful heritage of the Christian community, and we’re saying we need to own it all.

…

The point is that instead of narrowing things down to just the little group, let’s just say, “Look – we’re all a mess, and we all have some good things going, so let’s try to embrace each other and work together.”

So if you want to be a Presbyterian and argue against the Mennonites and say that they’re not really Christians, that’s fine, but you’re probably not a part of the Emerging Conversation. If you want to be a Presbyterian who appreciates and learns form Mennonites, then you’re a part of the Emerging Church, and vice-versa. If you want to be a Pentecostal who thinks that all Catholics are total losers, then you’re not a part of the emerging conversation. But if you’re a Pentecostal who wants to learn anything you can from Catholics, then you fit in. If you’re liberal and you think that you have nothing to learn from conservative Christians, then, you know, you are what you are. But if you’re saying no, I’m a liberal Christian, but I think there are things that I can learn from my conservative brothers, and vice-versa – again, my life is so blessed because I get to travel around and speak to all these different groups, and I’ll tell you something: Although some sectors of Christians have excluded and rejected and given up on other sectors, in my experience, God doesn’t seem to have done so. God still seems to like them. And even if they pushed God out the door, he snuck back in the window, and he’s done that with all of us. And the fact that God puts up with any of us – including those of us who are here – is an incredible miracle.

Now I’m not saying that the truth doesn’t matter, but I’m saying that truth is not one-dimensional. It’s not flat, it’s thick. It’s not just a black and white picture, it’s full color. It’s not bland, it’s spicy.

…

Can I say it like this: reason and logic are ours, and art and imagery are ours. Reasoned logical sermons are ours, and rituals are ours. The treasures of Roman Catholicism – whose are they? Ours. The treasures of Eastern Orthodoxy – whose are they? Ours. Presbyterian treasures. Baptist treasures. Mennonite treasures. What we’re saying is look – they’re ours, and their mistakes are ours. And their embarrassments are ours, and their scandals are ours. Because we’re all in this thing together.

-Brian Mclaren