Is This a Club to Be Proud of Our Membership?

 

A few weeks ago I urged readers not only to call Christine Gregoire, but to speak to their friends, about our state cold-bloodedly murdering a person.  The execution of Mr. Brown has been delayed.  So there’s time to step back a bit and consider the “club” the United States belongs to; the club of those nations that still believe in capital punishment.

 

Truth in packaging here.  I’m about to quote from an Amnesty International report.  You should know that I support AI, send them money, and that AI is opposed to capital punishment.

 

In the world, there are only 25 nations left that use capital punishment.  The latest countries to abolish it are Argentina and Uzbekistan.  Indeed, in Europe, only Belarus still carries out executions.

 

The U.S. ranks in the top six nations in the numbers of people murdered by the state in the name of “justice.”  Let’s see who are the fellow members of our “club.”

 

China is the clear leader.  72% of the people executed world-wide are executed in China.  Others in our “exclusive” club are Iran, and Saudi Arabia, both of which execute more people than the U.S. does, and Pakistan and Iraq, who execute fewer.

 

Thus the U.S. has the honor of being in the “top four” in the world in executions.  We are “topped” only by China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.  Aren’t you proud?

 

To be sure there is no confusion here, I am not saying that people don’t commit horrific crimes.  I wish that they didn’t, but they do.  And I’m certainly not saying that such people shouldn’t be imprisoned and never let out.  Society has the right to protect itself.

 

I could quote Scripture, and note that we are informed by the Lord, our God, that “Vengeance is Mine.”  But that, in all honesty, would be disingenuous.  There are in point of fact so many things said in Scripture that almost any point of view on any subject can be supported somewhere.

 

Would I would say is that the cold blooded taking of a human life is wrong.  It is always wrong.

 

Murder is wrong when a wrongfully imprisoned Muslim, locked for years in a cell at Guantanamo, and frequently tortured in the name of the United States, is finally released and feels that justice demands that he or she murder some Americans.  Murder is wrong, when a person whose family has been killed because a U.S. bomb has hit a civilian target wants to kill Americans to seek justice.  And it is wrong when the state has in its custody a man who tortured and then murdered an innocent young woman, and wants to kill him to seek justice. 

 

Murder is wrong.  It is always wrong.  It is time to leave the club that believes that murder can be justified. 

Is Shopping Cheapest, Shopping Best?

 

All but the wealthiest of us are really watching our pennies these days – not to mention our dimes and dollars.  On the airwaves we constantly hear: “If you don’t buy from … , you’re paying too much.”  And I wonder if price is the only thing we should be considering. 

 

One thing the meltdown of the economy has shown us is that we not only pay for goods with our dollars.  We also vote.  When we shop at a store we are voting that that store  stay open.  When we don’t shop at a store we are voting that it close its doors.  One could go crazy taking this to the extreme, but as a simple example, I found recently that I needed to buy a bed.   I still shopped a sale, but I went to the sale at a store that has always given good value, treated its workers decently and where I’ve gotten good service.  I paid somewhat more than at the most highly advertized store.  But it felt right.

 

There have, of course, been a lot of dumb movies about the death of the “mom and pop” stores when the giant superstores move in.  But, and here I am on values again!, it becomes a question of values.  Is the world only about me?  Is cheapest really “best?”  What has the death-spiral of the small shop and the explosion of giant warehouse stores meant to us as a community?

 

What does it cost the world, when we demand the cheapest price?  Pitiful treatment of the people who make the item?  Lousy treatment of the sales staff at the “superstore”?  Less regard for environmental dangers?  Or perhaps less safety inspections and more problems with tainted foods, or hazardous toys. 

 

What does it mean when we build a society based on the lowest price?

 

What would it mean if we were to build a society based on good wages, good working conditions and real inspection for quality?

 

What does it say about us that we haven’t?

 

I was discussing our raging drug problem with someone the other day (this really will tie in), and he said, “Do you really think there would be drug cartels and drug lords and drug wars if there weren’t a huge demand for drugs?”  And, of course, he’s right.

 

And do we really think that there would continue to be sweatshops, horrific living conditions for workers, and slipshod manufacturing if there weren’t a demand for it?  “The lowest price at any cost” ought to be an oxymoron.  But it isn’t.  We all too often are willing to put up with almost anything to get something cheaper.

 

As we get more interested in “fair trade” and less mesmerized by “free trade” we may just be able to start repairing our world. 

 

It’s worth a shot, isn’t it?  And in the meantime, if there’s a small store you’ve always liked, you might want to consider still shopping there, even if you need to watch your wallet carefully, and the “big” stores will sell you what you want cheaper.  Again the question becomes.  What is it we truly want?

 

And what, pray tell, you may ask, does this have to do with Interfaith?  Community.  Among the many things that need our loving attention is community.  Our human community.

Values Once Last (?) Time

 

I’m beginning to have this horrible fear that I could blog on values forever.  Those patient enough to be following this blog may well be starting to nurture that same fear as well.  So, at least for the time being, one last blog.

 

Two issues are pressing on me.  The most immediate is the complicity we all have with the state sponsored murder (also known as execution) of Cal Brown about to take place in the State of Washington if we do not act.  The second is the wholesale lack of values that many if not most speaking for one of our political parties have evidenced.

 

First and foremost, and the reason this blog is being posted early, is the murder of Cal Brown in which every person in the State of Washington who does not speak up is complicit..  I have called Governor Christine Gregoire’s office and would urge you to do the same.  The phone number is 360-902-4111.  I told the very polite and personable woman who answered the phone that my opinion has nothing to do with Mr. Brown’s guilt or innocence.  Assuming that the jury was correct, I would be very happy to see Mr. Brown imprisoned for life and to have the key thrown away. 

 

BUT I believe that murder is wrong.  It is always wrong.  It is wrong if Mr. Brown commits it.  It is every bit as wrong if the State of Washington commits it.  I am opposed to Mr. Brown’s murder as a citizen of this state.  I am opposed to Mr. Brown’s murder as a minister who believes we have obligations to ourselves, our children and that which we hold sacred.

 

I believe that if a person who lives in Washington does not call Governor Gregoire and voice opposition to the cold blooded murder of Cal Brown planned as of now for Friday, March 13^th, then that person is complicit in his murder.

 

I would beg you not only to call, but to bring this blog to the attention of as many others as you can.

 

Let us teach our children that murder is wrong.  It is always wrong.  No matter how aggrieved we are, murder is wrong. 

 

Lastly, a quick word about those on the far right, whose hatred of anything not of the far right, and whose desire to see their own cause succeed no matter what, have led some to admit openly (and others not so openly) that they would prefer to see the President of the United States fail, and thus the country plunge into a depression to match the Great Depression of the 1930’s, than for him to succeed.  How dare anyone who proclaims that, or believes that without proclaiming it, ever again dare to say that he or she possesses any values whatsoever, except perhaps, the “value” of self-gratification to the exclusion of all else.

 

But that is taking place in the “other” Washington.  Cal Brown’s murder is taking place in ours.  Please act.

The Value of Life

 

Tonight some ponderings.  Can’t promise any answers.  Just some questions.  It started with the current commotion over a new state law in Washington that allows a dying patient to say “enough” and allows that person’s physician to assist.

 

I admit it’s a deeply personal issue for me.  As I mentioned in one of my earliest blog entries, my mother, dying from cancer, in pain and wanting die on her own terms and not the cancer’s, tried to end her life.  Physician assistance was not an option in California.  My mother guessed and guessed wrong.  She either took the wrong pills or not enough of them.  She died some ten days after taking her overdose.  I didn’t want my mother to end her life.  I selfishly wanted every last possible moment with her.  But it was her decision.  I honored it then.  I honor it today.  I don’t like it, but I honor it.

 

But what got me thinking is how by and large, those who are against allowing a physician the legal right to help a person end a life that is terminal are conservatives.  The very same people who want “government” out of our lives, insist on inserting it here. 

 

This isn’t the only instance.  Conservatives (in general) want to insert government between a woman and her doctor regarding abortion.  I’ll confess it.  I’m against abortion.  I think that (except in the case of the mother’s health) there are so many better alternatives.  But I also think a woman ought to have the right to choose.

 

Then there’s state sanctioned murder, sometimes called “capital punishment.”  It’s not always true, but it’s true more often than not that a person who is vehemently against allowing abortions (why? because they believe in the “sanctity of life”) is all for having laws on the books allowing the state to kill people.  Texas is probably the most perfect example, as it is strongly anti-abortion while at the same time has by far more executions than any other state in the country.

 

And, of course, the reverse is generally true.  Liberals (in general) are against executions (why? because they believe in the “sanctity of life”) yet are all for having laws on the books allowing for abortions. 

 

But what really gnaws at me is how so many have put all this time, effort, emotion, money and attempts at legislation about babies that have yet to be born and whether a dying person wants the right to choose the time of her or his parting.  My question to all is, “What about the living??!”

 

All this concern (pro-life/pro-choice) over the unborn.  What about the children who ARE born?

 

Why are there children in this country who are hungry?

 

Why are there children in this country with little or no access to medical care?

 

Why are there children in this country with no place to call home?

 

I would love to challenge every pro-choice organization in the country, and every pro-life organization in this country to tithe 50% of whatever they collect to care for the children that ARE born!

 

And the same holds true for the fights over whether terminally ill patients should have the right to “die with dignity.” 

 

What about the seniors who can’t afford their medications and live in pain or debilitating illness or both?  What about the seniors who can’t afford both to eat and to take their medications?

 

I would love to challenge both sides of the “death with dignity” issue to concern themselves a bit with “life with dignity.”  I would love to challenge them to tithe 50% of whatever they collect to care for the seniors who are NOT dying, “just” living without the food, medication and shelter they need to have any dignity to their lives