Remorse Presupposes Enough Self-forgetfulness To

I Keep Thinking Of The Gifts Of My Own Upbringing, Which I Once Took For Granted: I Can Read Any Book I Choose And Comprehend It. I Can Write A Complete Sentence And Punctuate It Correctly. If I Need Help, I Can Call On Judges, Attorneys, Educators, Ministers. I Wonder What I Would Be Like If I Had Grown Up Without Such Protections And Supports. What Cracks Would Have Turned Up In My Character?

I Realize That I Cannot Stand By Silently As My Government Executes Its Citizens. If I Do Not Speak Out And Resist, I Am An Accomplice.

In Sorting Out My Feelings And Beliefs, There Is, However, One Piece Of Moral Ground Of Which I Am Absolutely Certain: If I Were To Be Murdered I Would Not Want My Murderer Executed. I Would Not Want My Death Avenged. Especially By Government--which Can't Be Trusted To Control Its Own Bureaucrats Or Collect Taxes Equitably Or Fill A Pothole, Much Less Decide Which Of Its Citizens To Kill.

Time Rushes By And Yet Time Is Frozen. Funny How We Get So Exact About Time At The End Of Life And At Its Beginning. She Died At 6:08 Or 3:46, We Say, Or The Baby Was Born At 4:02. But In Between We Slosh Through Huge Swatches Of Time--weeks, Months, Years, Decades Even.

People Are More Than The Worst Thing They Have Ever Done In Their Lives