A long run, kind of
OK, I ended up walking much of the last 6 miles. It was very sunny, and I lost focus. Two dangerous things. I needed a long run today, and I wanted to do something not too long, plus it’s my eldest niece’s 16th birthday, so 16 miles made sense. Right around mile 10 I said, “enough” and just started walking. When I got back into town I hit the first water fountain (tons of public water fountains around here in the cities) and stood there for a couple minutes, refilling my bottle, drinking, splashing water on my head and neck.
But the nice part is, when it cools off in the late Fall and Winter, this will be a pretty nice course to run, it’s pretty flat. Tons of olive and grape farms to run past, a few nice views of the Adriatic. Also, some of the marble businesses have stones just sitting outside the gates. They look like maybe they’re not 100% proper, so I’m guessing they can’t sell them so they just leave them out for people to take if they want. I certainly could, if I were building a home, make some very nice things out of a lot of the stone that was outside the stone cutters. This may be something to keep in mind in the future!
So I saw this post about death row inmates’ last meals. That’s got me thinking, I’ve said it before, this whole thing, the problems with cops, and murder, the problems with wars and violence. We can solve this. I see too many people on all sides, talking about what people “deserve”. That’s a problem. Look, I have plenty of people I disagree with. I have plenty of people who I think are morally reprehensible, wrong, dangerous, causing pain, violence, even death. Do they “deserve to die”? No. That’s not for me to say. They need to be stopped, surely. If you can keep them from getting into a position to cause pain and violence, do so. But they do not deserve to die. Nobody deserves to die.
Even if I was 100% certain that I was right, and the other person was wrong, it’s not my decision to make, and we need everyone to understand that. Nothing in this world is black and white. Look at the Central Park 5. This is relevant because of the GOP Presidential nominee. They had signed confessions (coerced) from the defendants. That is what they were convicted on even though there was no other evidence. Years later, while they’re rotting in prison, literally for a crime they did not commit, another person, who was in trouble for something else confesses and his DNA is a match, and all the other evidence lines up with this guy being the person who committed the crime!
Now, all these people who screamed for the death penalty for the Central Park 5, because they confessed, they deserved to die. But they didn’t do anything wrong. They confessed because the police coerced them into a confession. People, including Donald Drumpf (R – Presidential Nominee) were convinced these 5 kids were guilty. They were sure they were right in demanding the deaths of these 5 people. They were all horribly wrong.
We have killed people in the name of the State, in the name of justice, when they have done nothing wrong. When it’s a war, we call it collateral damage. You’ve seen the pictures of young Syrian children bloodied, covered in dust, we may or may not be dropping those bombs, but it happens. In Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, everywhere we have been and gone. Wherever a military plies its trade, there are innocent civilians killed for doing nothing more than living their lives.
Nobody deserves to die. If somebody wishes to kill me, that’s their problem. I know it’s wrong to kill others regardless of what their perceived injustice is. It does not matter to me. I do not consent any government, state, organization, or individual to kill anyone in my name for any reason, at any time. Once everyone starts to recognize that there is never a reason to kill anyone, we can start to heal this miserable condition we live through here. The first part of this is to teach people to never be certain about anything. Once you are certain that you are right you can justify just about anything. There’s always a chance we are wrong, not one human being, not one living creature is perfect. We all make mistakes, we all make errors. They will always happen. That uncertainty is enough to say we should never take a life, under any conditions. There is always another way. This is where it starts, recognizing that you, your family, your community, your pastor, your church, your elected officials, your news broadcasters, every single being great and small you will ever meet is imperfect. The only one of those imperfect beings you have any hope of having any control over is yourself. That’s it, not your wife or husband, not your kids, your grandkids, just you. Humility, true humility is what is needed. Because once we are sure of ourselves, we can justify the most monstrous of things.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
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