Justice does not equal Murder.
Whether or not you were guilty, Stanley Williams...
May you rest in peace. May all of the dead rest in peace.
Whatever wrongs you did do, you did do work to prevent future wrongs from others. It is not the every day pedestrian that recieves a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. For that alone, you deserved more then what they gave you. They gave you a lethal injection, almost 25 years after you did or did not commit the crimes they killed you for.
I do not pretend to know all of the facts of this case. I do know that murder does not justify murder. I do know that the great equalizer "Time" does change us. I do know that the most important thing for us to be able to do is to be able to forgive. I do believe that, in almost every case, the Man who is executed is most likely not the Boy that was convicted in the first place.
It's hard to say how I would react. If someone were to kill my sister tomorrow, I would more then likely want nothing more then to tear that person's throat out with my teeth. But I would like to think that I would be able to keep it under control. I would like to believe that I could find it in my heart and in my soul to keep myself under control.
20 years is a long, long, time to hold a grudge. It is a long, long, time to blacken a heart with the taint of hatred. I do not think that I could survive that cold, hard, grip on my heart. I know that the death of the person who could take something so precious as my baby sister would never satisfy me.
It would never bring back the baby girl that I first held the day after she was born.
It would never realize the future that she might have had.
It only snuffs out prematurely another life that may have otherwise held some promise.
It would never help me sleep at night.
The death penalty is flawed and wrong, and I do not sleep easier at night knowing that this country that we live in, that we have so many things to be proud of, can take an life to avenge a life.
May you all rest in peace when the time comes. I only hope that it comes with time, not with hatred.
Colin
May you rest in peace. May all of the dead rest in peace.
Whatever wrongs you did do, you did do work to prevent future wrongs from others. It is not the every day pedestrian that recieves a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. For that alone, you deserved more then what they gave you. They gave you a lethal injection, almost 25 years after you did or did not commit the crimes they killed you for.
I do not pretend to know all of the facts of this case. I do know that murder does not justify murder. I do know that the great equalizer "Time" does change us. I do know that the most important thing for us to be able to do is to be able to forgive. I do believe that, in almost every case, the Man who is executed is most likely not the Boy that was convicted in the first place.
It's hard to say how I would react. If someone were to kill my sister tomorrow, I would more then likely want nothing more then to tear that person's throat out with my teeth. But I would like to think that I would be able to keep it under control. I would like to believe that I could find it in my heart and in my soul to keep myself under control.
20 years is a long, long, time to hold a grudge. It is a long, long, time to blacken a heart with the taint of hatred. I do not think that I could survive that cold, hard, grip on my heart. I know that the death of the person who could take something so precious as my baby sister would never satisfy me.
It would never bring back the baby girl that I first held the day after she was born.
It would never realize the future that she might have had.
It only snuffs out prematurely another life that may have otherwise held some promise.
It would never help me sleep at night.
The death penalty is flawed and wrong, and I do not sleep easier at night knowing that this country that we live in, that we have so many things to be proud of, can take an life to avenge a life.
May you all rest in peace when the time comes. I only hope that it comes with time, not with hatred.
Colin