Executions

With palms together,

A week or so ago, a Vietnam vet was executed. I think he was the 1000Th person killed by the state since the Supreme Court lifted the ban on capitol punishment. Tonight another vet will be killed, though he is a different sort of vet. He is a veteran of the streets. A killer, gangster, no doubt. Perhaps reformed, I don't know.

War does funny things to people. Hell, life does funny things to people. We pride ourselves in our ability to understand our world, learn from our mistakes, grow as a culture, and yet, here we are, living out vengeance.

These executions should cause us to at least take a breath and pause for a moment.

What are we doing?

Retaliation, it seems to me is a mark of a primitive mind. It is criminal behavior. It is what we expect of gangs and barbarians.

An eye for an eye, people say. Really? When was the last time the state blinded a person or knocked out his tooth. Jews made it nearly impossible to execute someone when convicted. But this "Judeo-Christian" society? Gosh, we have had a thousand opportunities to show mercy and in each case turned away.

We need to keep society safe. Right. And killing people does that? Are we really keeping society safe? Who does the death penalty punish? The one executed or the executioner? Is there a difference? Who really could cast the proverbial first stone? What is the moral foundation of this ethic?

My sense is that we diminish ourselves greatly through state sanctioned killing. But then we are not really a civilized society, are we? We pretend. We talk the talk, but abhor the walk. We like to look civilized. But appearances are truly deceiving.

Civilized societies take care of their ill, their elderly, and their poor. Civilized societies do not execute children. Civilized societies do not poison the atmosphere for the sake of a few dollars more to add to the already excessive profits of oil companies. Civilized societies do not sanction the possession of handguns, nor do they need them. Civilized societies provide funding for research to cure lethal illnesses, regardless of who is ill or how they became ill. Civilized societies teach their children and each other how to love. Civilized societies cherish peace, life, and liberty.

We can do better than this. We must.

As we are all one, including the executioner and the executed, I ask we each recite the prayer of atonement for ourselves this evening.

Be well,




May All Beings Be Free From Suffering
Sodaiho Roshi