You know Chet, the public, us, we're patient people. We have to be because it doesn't say that justice must only be done, it says justice must also be seen to be done. It doesn't say how long justice will take to mete or if justice must be done within a certain time frame. Eventually, it must be seen to be done.
I believe though our society must have justice be seen to be done by all who were in the place at the time. A family, friends, community, perhaps even the whole country, must, in their lifetime, collectively, witness justice to be done in order for it truly to have been done. If we can't have that then subsequent generations of family, friends and community must ensue it is seen to be done. Because in the end justice must prevail. Indeed, justice will prevail, we just can't demand when.
This is much like prayer. We pray and we pray and we pray and when our prayers are answered it's often not when we expected them to be answered. We are inclined to say "It's about time, but I coulda' used this before." We say thank you but our disappointment will often show. If we don't realize that timing is our perception and we are indeed the worst judges of what should happen in our own lives, we don't accept the timing.
If we pray to win the lottery and we continuously just break even do we feel our prayers are answered? I look at lottery in terms of odds, they are very slim. Very, very slim. So how can He who answers our prayers possibly grant the wish to every single person who prays to win the lottery? It is human limitation that prevents our collective wishes from being granted. If the number of prizes are doubled then the number of people who's hopes, dreams, wishes and prayers have been answered are also doubled. No one buys a lottery ticket and not hope, wish, dream or pray to win.
Whatever is needed to convict Ruth's killer must be done. An unsolved murder is the most heinous of human crimes. No issue, ordinance or public need outweighs the value of human life and he who takes human life must be our country's most hated and pursued person. He and she must be most wanted by the public, most pursued by the police, most determined to prosecute by our judicial system. We must ensure he or she is the right one and be sent to exile from our society for the rest of their lives. We must put our finest resources into their pursuit, capture, conviction and incarceration.
A society that pursues frivolous things and ignores the person beside us in their time of dire, dire need is a society worth nothing more than the paper their stocks and bonds are printed on. We are nothing if the human life taken by another person is forgotten. Whatever the reason. Murder is not a big deal in our society, in many societies. We are so upset by China's decision to execute a heroine smuggler, indeed their record of more executions per year than the rest of the industrialize world combined but no one hears of the injustice Ruth Degayo and her family, friends and community have suffered for four years next week.
We will pour millions of dollars in a few days into the promotion of the news the British citizen was slated for and executed yet we do not have the resources or compassion to ensure Ruth Degayo's killer is arrested, charged, convicted and incarcerated for the maximum penalty allowed by our laws. Why is Ruth's name not in the news? Why are people speaking fervently among themselves yet failing to speak loud and collectively to the public? Why does the world wide media not roar the obvious injustice to everyone and why does everyone not gather and shout for action? We need more shouting. We have to shout together.
Life does not equal life in this country. It has not been so for many years and thousands of murdered people have not had justice, not real justice. At least I don't see it, not yet.
Hope, wish, pray or dream - justice will be seen to be done. But faith is not silent. Love and compassion are not solitary pursuits. Today I feel angry that so many injustices prevail in our society that could easily, readily and quickly be fixed. And I'm horrified by the injustices that have occurred over the years and the loneliness and isolation people continue to live in. A killer takes peoples existence away. He or she also takes the expectations of a future with that person and the hopes, dreams and wishes of those who love them. The entire dynamic of a community changes when a person from one of their families is murdered. Murder is the most heinous crime in our society and killers ought to be pursued with the best resources we have.
If we have only ten most wanted slots but hundreds of equally evil wanted people maybe we ought to rethink the list containing only ten. After all, that's a real old list when there weren't so many unsolved crimes on the books. We have to change the way we think about and pursue killers. They are the worst people in our society, the worst.
Topic: Ruth Degayo - January 8, 2006 - Age 40 - Morley (Read 2335 times)
