Why do we defend it?

Reading The Death Writer's blog today, I was reminded of the couple of posts I have previously tried to write on the subject of the death penalty. It is the ultimate topic to my mind. It is about us, you and me, killing another person. Taking the life of another. Deciding who should die.

Have you ever noticed the look in a person's eyes when they start defending the death penalty from a place of emotion? They tend to take on the look of someone out of body, and mind, who is getting ready to join up with a mob. They say the criminal should be killed because of what he did. An eye for an eye. Vengeance is necessary for justice to prevail. Society must be protected.

He should die. We should kill him.

Do not think for even one minute that because you are not injecting the poison yourself that you are not participating in killing. Of course, I understand some of you may want to be participating. Some of you may want to keep your distance and yet still watch. A very few of you do not want him to be killed.

Why is this? Why do we want to see people hurt or killed? I say it has nothing to do with wanting to protect ourselves and loved ones, nothing to do with justice, nothing to do with retribution, and everything to do with sheer vengeance and some warped need to see death face-to-face.

Witness the immense popularity of "The Hunger Games."

Why do I think this? I was in an Ethics class a few years back and the professor asked the class, "How many of you would like to see executions broadcast on TV?" Everyone in the class of roughly 30 students raised their hands except for me and one other person. I was so shocked, and this got me to thinking a lot about why is it people want to see death. I honestly still don't get it. Maybe I'm afraid of my own self if I let my thinking go too far. If I analyze it too closely, would I find I also want to see someone killed or death happening?

The arguments for and against the death penalty are easy to find and we all use them to defend whichever side we have always taken. It seems there is almost no use talking about it, but I feel ever more strongly that it is imperative for me to take a stand on what I believe. Why? Well, that's another post.

There is much to be said about people wanting to see killing and death. If we truly only wanted to protect society and extract retribution, then would it not be more expedient to simply lock up the criminal for life with no chance of parole? It's certainly a lot cheaper. And it would be a harsher punishment for the criminal than escape through their own death.

Or maybe it has something to do with our shared anxiety of death. We are afraid to think of our own dying, and so maybe by watching others die we somehow are examining how we feel about our own deaths. And by wanting the death penalty we somehow are subconsciously killing the evil in ourselves.

Why do I think it so wrong to kill someone, even a murderer? Because I believe that I am part of everyone and everyone is part of me, and when someone is needlessly killed it hurts a part of me. A part of you. It's like how the butterfly flapping its wings influences events far away.

Everything is connected.

PS:  I'm surprised and happy at how many comments I'm receiving from people who are against the death penalty, and so I checked the Gallup polls.
Support for the DP was at its all time high in 1994. The ethics class I speak of was in 1993. As of 2011, only 61% percent of people in the U.S. approve of it.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/150089/support-death-penalty-falls-year-low.aspx
That is certainly progress.


Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty

Like a little girl

It's funny how I feel so much like a little girl getting a gold star. Thanks to Lily Tequila at Wishbone Soup Cures Everything for making this happen with the Kreativ Blogger award. Lily and I are fairly new to each other having found each other's blogs during the A to Z. I like reading Lily's blog for her intelligence, wit, and overall sense of happiness. You should go visit her.

And blessings they do come in two's today, and so thanks also to Susan at I Think; Therefore I Yam. Susan is one of those really creative women who can do all kinds of stuff I can't do, like paint, make music, and write. And to add on to her rich abundance of natural talent she's an optimist -- opposite of my pessimistic personality. What we do have in common is tenaciousness, the desire to never ever give up.

Wait a day and you get three blessings. Life is okay you know. Amanda at Drama, Dice and Damsons is an art historian and drama teacher. Reading her blog is fun and an education to boot. I don't know how Amanda keeps up with it all, but I admire her for it. Plus, I'm always in awe of art historians.

And those seven things that I think you may find interesting about me? Well, this is a little bit more difficult but here you go:

1.  I've been thinking a lot about a nose job lately. As you may know, I am vehemently opposed to plastic surgery and so I can only figure I'm either bored or this nose really is getting bigger each day.

2.  I have a new favorite meal, Top Ramen and Yoplait, chicken and strawberry preferably. Not joking.

3.  When I first started college my major was Interior Design. I dropped out that second semester. When I went back I went into Computer Programming and finally decided on Philosophy. I wish I'd stuck with the Programming to tell you the truth.


4.  "Survivor" is my # 1 TV show. I love it! And, in spite of the fact of not liking groups of women, I dug it when the women took over and then Kim won.

5.  Lately, I've taken to bird watching a lot. There are a lot of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers where I live and they have the most beautiful voices. Some say they make a hell of a racket but I say they sing to my heart.

6.  My credo for life -- from Goethe's "Faust" --

          Then indecision brings its own delays, 
          And days are lost lamenting over lost days. 
          Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute; 
          What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; 
          Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

7.  I'm temporarily brain dead and can't think of anything else that I haven't already told you guys in previous posts. Does there come a time when we have nothing original left to say?

And my favorite part of these awards is turning you all on to seven other bloggers. During the A to Z, I discovered some new blogs and along with a couple of older ones, I'd like to share with you the following as definitely worthy of checking out:

1.  Carolyn at Letters From an Urban Trench is a published author and a food activist who is into living a simple and self-sufficient life. On her blog she lists urban skills and resources along with posts on how to deal with all types of agriculture. Carolyn's blog is like a breath of fresh air.

2.  Linda M. at Hello, It's Me.... Linda amazes me and leaves me full or respect and admiration for the way she lives her journey! She writes openly about her fight with cancer and shares her life of gardening, bees, and her new alpaca. I look forward to getting to know her better.

3.  I actually just met The Death Writer earlier today and am fascinated with her blog. Death is the subject of her thesis and she actually received this award a couple of days ago and so no blame if she chooses to not go through this thing again. However, I thought some of the readers on this block might like a chance to meet her.

4.  MothersofBrothersBlog is full of good humor and a bit of sarcasm. I like MOV because she thinks for herself, is original, intelligent, and provides some darn good reading.

5.  Running through my blog reading list, I found a new post by Jayne at Suburban Soliloquy and was reminded of how much I love her writing, thinking, and originality. I've mentioned Jayne here before and some of you already know and love her, but she is one of those people well worth mentioning again.

6.  Another blogger I've grown to admire so much is DJan at DJan-ity. DJan has so many things I wish I had such as being level-headed and courageous. DJan is a skydiver and enjoys hiking in the local countryside around her home in Washington, and at the same time she's great at helping and supporting others. While I use my age to keep from venturing out into new things, DJan embraces all new things regardless of her age.

7.  Cari from Bubble Gum On My Shoe is another new blog I find myself enjoying. Cari works full-time, is a jewelry designer, free lance writer, and still finds time for blogging and her family. On her blog she offers support for those with Autism and single parents.

Atheist or God Believer

Baby Universe

Lately, say for the past 5 years or so, I've thought of myself as an atheist and have made it a point to let others know I'm an atheist. My reason for this is it bothers me ridiculously how Christianity, particularly the Fundamentalists, has taken to dictating their beliefs to the rest of the world. Yeah, I'm thinking of people like the Tea Party folks. Have you noticed how we don't hear much lately about the Tea Party? Funny. Whatever you do, don't think about it.

So, in order to take a stand against this sort of thinking, I've thought if one does not agree with their idea of God then we should take a stand stating we are atheists and not a believer in this barbaric and selfish way of thinking.

Anyway, I didn't want to identify with those who said they believed in God because of what they stood for. Things like "Right to Life" or the death penalty. Don't think about that too much now or you might find yourself wondering.

Okay. Here is what I believe. I believe God is in me and God is floating around in these little cell like or monad type things drifting all about between me and you (not really but it sounds good). In essence, the God I believe in is everywhere, but this God doesn't really care if I believe in something called Heaven or something called sin. This God I believe in really does not give a damn. Yelp, she doesn't even care if I curse.

This God I speak of is no where near human and thus has absolutely no human attributes. This God is the stickiness that joins me and you together and all those other people into one big "thing". Some people like to call it the Universe and others refer to it as Oneness. Whatever.

So, do I believe in God? Or am I an atheist because I don't think this God gives a rat's ass about whether or not I think it can intervene in my affairs? I don't by the way. I don't think God is something that tells me this is good or this is bad. I don't think God tells me what to do. I don't think God has a place set aside for me when I die.

I do think God is here, not there. I think God is Love. I think God is Truth. I think God is what makes me want to go on living in a world that often sucks. I think God gives me passion and zest for life. I think God is inside me and what takes me outside of my ego.

I think God is that thing that often makes me insane with too much passion, too much caring, too much ummmph. And too much pain.

But you know what? I really think God is unknowable and undefinable, and if we should get a glimpse of that, a teeny tiny minute glimpse or feeling, then we are God.

Are we with God? No. I think we are God.

XYZ is for Done, Fini, That's All She Wrote

Leo Tolstoy

And so XYZ comes to an end for me. It has served me well. My purpose in doing the XYZ was as an incentive to get myself back to writing something each day. For the most part I did that. I wrote each day and some of it was meaningful and from my heart and some it was stilted and made to get through a day or a letter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because I wrote most every day. That is a good thing for me.

Writing helps me a lot. I have no ambition "to be" a writer, but keeping a blog helps me tremendously. Some times it helps more than others. Part of it is the sheer act of taking what's up there and putting it down on paper. I suppose it works as some sort of confirmation of my thinking, and in the presenting of it to an audience I hope for their affirmation that I am indeed alright as a person.

And I so much receive that affirmation from my readers. I have the most supportive group of people who support me as I write. Those who come here always leave me with much to think about and consider, and it is this complementary reciprocal relationship that makes blogging a means to an end for me. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am ever grateful for those who help me with this thing called life.

We are all part of the human condition and we all share common thoughts, fears, feelings, and yes, love. We all are what makes life worthwhile and if it weren't for the other in my life, I'm afraid I would be very lost.

So, thanks everyone!

VW is for Very Woody - the Oklahoma Cowboy

Yesterday, I was out of town and cruising down Hwy. 40 from the Arkansas border to Oklahoma City. Not a trip you want to take too often. Hwy. 40, the new version of Route 66, skips all the little Okie towns along the way and is nothing but miles and miles of nothing. However, you can exit for the towns. The lifeblood of my people. Here is one.

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma. He was the second born son of Charles and Nora Belle Guthrie. His father taught Woody western, Indian, and Scottish folk tunes. His family suffered financial ruin and his mother was institutionalized for Huntington's Disease. He didn't live an easy life as most Okies of the times didn't.

My parents were born during this same period in Whitefield and Checotah, Oklahoma. They also knew the extreme hardship of these times.

In 1920 oil was discovered close to Okemah and it became an oil boom town overnight bringing all kinds of people to town. However, within a few years the oil dried up and Okemah was busted. Perhaps it was this decline of his home town and family that gave Woody his uniquely wry outlook on life and his wanderlust.

My parents were young kids working in the cotton fields. They too developed a wry sense of humor and a nobility rough from suffering.

In 1932 he found himself in Texas and married Mary Jennings, the younger sister of a fellow musician, Matt Jennings. The Great Dust Storm of 1935 made it hard for families to survive, and like my own relatives Woody headed for California. He arrived in 1937 and suffered scorn and hatred from other Californians who were resentful of the Okie outsiders, and so Woody began to gain attention from all the Okies living in migrant camps.

Living in migrant camps!

My own grandparents left Oklahoma during the Dust bowl for California and settled in Bakersfield. They came from a family of farmers, ranchers, attorneys, and judges who first settled Southeast Oklahoma after the Indian resettlement. 

And lived in migrant camps!

In 1941 my father became a part of World War II. He was a captain in charge of a tank battalion which eventually liberated one of the concentration camps in Germany.

The son of migrant camps!

Woody strongly identified with his audience and took on the persona of an "outsider" along with them. This role became elemental in his political and social status in such songs as "I Ain't Got No Home", "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad", "Talking Dust Bowl Blues" and "Hard Travelin'", reflecting the feelings of the disenfranchised.

And so here we have one grandchild of the Woody generation from Oklahoma who is still singing his songs and hoping for equality. Long live Woody!

Like Woody, I easily identify with the disenfranchised and those living on the fringes. I think much of my own personal history is related to this search for a new land and new way of living. Like Woody, I long for equality and hope for unity. This land is your land, this land is my land!!!

Talking Dustbowl Blues --

U is for Ubetcha

I've always had a self-deprecating and dry sense of humor, and I have to tell you I like it that way. Very few people who I've been around understand this sort of humor and I've pretty much always been told that I shouldn't talk about myself "like that". However, I know there are people who very much understand this kind of humor and also enjoy it. They're just not in my life right now. How else could Woody Allen have made so much money?

Here I go with a television reference again, but occasionally there are things on TV that make me think. The latest news today was about a plastic surgeon who sent his patients and friends a video made by a band of orthodox Jewish youngsters. The song tells the story of a young Jew with a big nose who can't get a prom date and so goes in for a rhinoplasty. Now the doctor is being hung on the cross for his lack of, get this, medical ethics, and his inappropriate choice of humor.

When the guys and the doctor try to explain they are merely making fun of themselves in a world where most people are even afraid to say the word "Jew", they are held up to ridiculous standards of political correctness. Sorry, but I've grown rather tired of all this PC stuff. It's gotten to where people feel they're walking on egg shells if they mention a minority, even when they may be part of that minority. Such is what happens when we let go of assimilation, but then that's a whole other ball game.

Here's the video causing all the controversy. (video with commentary below) The Groggers singing "Jewcam Sam" --

Personally, I find it cute, innovative, and funny, and think it ludicrous that the doctor now has to go through an ethics investigation.

In the video below Rabbi Yaakov Thompson interviews Dr. Michael Salzhauer, the plastic surgeon from Miami, Florida who commissioned the music video by The Groggers. You can see the original video in its entirety here along with a discussion. As the Rabbi points out in our society today, we are no longer allowed to make fun of ourselves.

I still strongly disapprove of plastic surgery and the need for people to want to look the same as everyone else. Honestly, I think big noses are kind of cute (think Sean Penn) but that may be because I have one. Regardless, in a world of button noses I live with the high hope that those with different features will not be afraid to be different.

Until then, I think it's a good thing that we have humor and an even better thing that we can appreciate different sorts of humor. If I make fun of myself, I'm not putting myself down but rather laughing at what is special or different about myself. Nothing wrong with that.

What's your opinion Reader? Do you think making fun of yourself or your people is not such a good thing? Do you think Dr. Salzhauer should face ethical charges? Or, is it possible this is nothing but a cute video put together for a like-minded group of people?

T is for This Too shall pass

Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) The Alchemy of June Schwarcz: Enamel Vessels from the Forrest L. Merrill Collection

This too. I've always loved that thought, that even "this too" shall pass away. There have been times in my life where I've felt so overwhelmed with all the things that were going wrong or were already wrong. It's like the feeling that for the rest of my life this will be the way things are--terrible.

And then when it gets so bad that it becomes nearly intolerable, it helps to have the idea and hope that even this, this worse than the worse and saddest of the sad will also go away. It will simply pass away as time does.

Fortunately, my experience with life has taught me that no matter how bad I may have felt at the time, and even if I was to the point of contemplating suicide, that if I could make it past the moment and the next moment, the feeling finally dissipated. Time alone can indeed cure pain.

My pain is no longer anywhere near what it used to be but I do still have difficult days. Somewhere along the line I learned a simple truth. Something hurts. Time passes. It goes away. I am better. Time passed. Intellectually it's easy to comprehend, but for me it took coming to the realization deep inside to get to where I could incorporate this idea into my psyche.

I can now safely say time will take it away. I think much of what is so difficult about emotional pain is that it seems like it will never end, but if we can somehow learn that it does end then it becomes much less painful.

And so the phrase, "this too shall pass" has come to mean much to me as I have learned to push past pain.