Pages

Sunday, May 3, 2009

CRIME & PUNISHMENT (the short version)

02 March

CRIME & PUNISHMENT (the short version)

Spare the rod, spoil the child; hang the bastards; nuke ‘em all. These terms have had their day to all but the uneducated, mean-spirited, right-wing ass-holes. They don’t represent anything but an intolerant, outdated, failure of policy but still we are surrounded by well meaning people who haven't managed to associated their way of thinking and speaking to the verifiable error of pursuing the hard line. So here I go again with a rant aimed at begging some to change their view, even if it is totally foreign to their regular habit.

Catholics, Jews and Muslims, God bless their souls, are, by their own admition, victims of their chosen religion in the ‘guilt’ department. If all was fair and equitable in the church, as well as more secular concerns, changes of policy would have kept pace with common knowledge. So all have become victims of the slow pace of change, in the sense that those who feel it is their godly duty to condemn sinners to the fiery pits suffer as well as those they judge. Red necked, pro- 911- retribution advocates sit squarely with terrorists and the financial neo-cons as world opinion swings decisively away from their bad judgements, extreme reactions and poor results.

Nothing I have said here comes as a revelatory cognition, we all know it. Why I have chosen to pontificate on this subject comes from a personal realization that if you treat people badly they react badly. If you offer people respect and understanding, you see the best come from the worst, no matter what the percentage; don’t take my word for it, try it for yourself. If you want to see your children grow and mature as responsible adults, invest in giving them the space to act like responsible adults. If you want to see criminals or terrorists act in away that you would desire , try treating them in a similar way and you might just be surprised at the results.

I have seen the nicest, most well intentioned, honestly godly people turn into the nastiest, mean spirited, old devils that we all are glad to see the back of, for the lack of understanding this issue. Don’t propagate the trend.

No comments: