Woke up today with death on my mind. Rather, how to avoid doling it out.
Allow me to explain.....
Last evening I was thinking about all those poor folks who have to kill for a living. Soldiers, executioners, judges (though indirectly), and juries (also indirectly).
I know I would never be a soldier, because I will not knowingly and on purpose take the life of another. I won't be an executioner because I just couldn't stomach it. A judge is not someone I'd want to be, mainly because I don't want to judge other people. But what if I were on a jury and had the opportunity to put someone to death?
As a jurist, it would be my job to sort through all the spin from the attorneys and decide guilt and sometimes punishment. The facts are not always allowed in full, however, so the jury is making a life or death decision on incomplete information.
Well, this carried on to my dreams, because there I was, simply helping someone construct a very odd huka when about ten people were around me. We took leave into a hall, and we all stood round three women and two men accused of something. What it was, I cannot say, but the penalty was a variable and included death as an option. I remember they asked for mercy. The ten in the crowd were insistent the five be punished, but after much deliberation, there was no consensus as to exactly what the punishment would be. The accused were visibly traumatized, and I sympathized with them. I remember also thinking I did not see what they did as illegal or immoral. But I was bound to carry out "justice".
I declared, "Alright. You've taken enough time. I will decide myself. The punishment is death."
The ten were hushed, and all eyes were wide with astonishment. "Clear out, all except the prisoners!"
People weren't leaving fast enough, being stunned and wanting to mill around to see. I shooed them out, after whispering to each of the convicted "we are going to fake your death and you'll be set free."
My plan was to bury empty caskets and show an article of clothing from each as proof they were dead. I was going to give each of the convicts a new life. Though not their own, they still had a fresh start.
This was my dream solution to an ugly judicial situation. And you know what? It actually sounds like something I would do!
What oh what does it mean?
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Comments: 8
I was pondering this over a conversation with a dear friend this morning, and she suggested I had actually done this. Our dreams do reveal segments of our past, or perhaps an alternate plane of reality from our waking time here.
This is feasable to me.
I do know that often I look for the path of least resistance to achieve my goals, and this seems likely in this scenario.
That said,
If our government continues to prosecute people for actions which are not immoral, or imprisons them indefinitely (as in Guantanimo), it is probably not a good idea to simply circumvent "justice" by going along with it verbally but actually doing quite the opposite. Or is it perhaps another option?
Good one Cathy
I've actually been on three juries and was the foreperson on two of them. While none of the trials involved the death penalty they still were all very, very difficult situations. It's certainly not easy deciding the fate of someone else. One of the cases involved a police shooting, and regardless of how we felt about about it, all of us were in tears when the trial was over.