@eco-alex posed this Question of the week for #Ecotrain
Is the Death penalty the epitome of hypocrisy? Does an 'eye for an eye' have a place in the modern age, and what kind of message does this send to society?
I kind of branched off from this in looking more at society and making for a better society.
I could never see justice being served by condemning a man to death, where there is no chance of change or reconsiliation.
To me that only shows the state of our justice system, which is set up more to punish than to rehabilitate.
Angulimala Chasing The Budhha
Source of Image and Story below
What comes to mind is the story of Aṅgulimāla, a ruthless brigand who had killed 999 people, and yet was seen as a symbol of spiritual transformation.
It shows that everyone, even the least likely people, can change their life for the better.
Aṅgulimāla is born Ahiṃsaka. He grows up as an intelligent young man in Sāvatthī, and during his studies becomes the favorite student of his teacher. However, out of jealousy, fellow students set him up against his teacher. In an attempt to get rid of Aṅgūlimāla, the teacher sends him on a deadly mission to find a thousand human fingers to complete his studies. Trying to accomplish this mission, Aṅgulimāla becomes a cruel brigand, killing many and causing entire villages to emigrate. Eventually, this causes the king to send an army to catch the killer. Meanwhile, Aṅgulimāla's mother attempts to interfere, almost causing her to be killed by her son as well. The Buddha manages to prevent this, however, and uses his power and teachings to bring Aṅgulimāla to the right path. Aṅgulimāla becomes a follower of the Buddha, and to the surprise of the king and others, becomes a monk under his guidance. Villagers are still angry with Aṅgulimāla, but this is improved somewhat when Aṅgulimāla helps a mother with childbirth through an act of truth.
Also what comes to mind is more tribal societies ways of dealing with folks who committed horrendous acts, they would ostracize them.
Now these societies were dependent on each other to be able to thrive in their way of life, so if someone was ostracized they would not survive. Members of this society knew this and thus there wasn't much of these crimes committed.
That may have worked in those societies but what about modern society?
Our societies are quite fragmented. Even the basic family units are breaking apart.
With the amount of violence, murders and atrocious scenes flashing across the screens, exposing so many people to this, a kind of numbness or insensitivity seems to be arising.
I see quite a drop in morality and an imbalance of power.
More greed , hatred and delusion are arising.
The powers to be, try to justify the taking of a life (the death penalty) by saying it is making society safer.
Do you really think this is making society better?
I prefer to live in a society where there is no killing, stealing and such, and with the degradation of society, I choose to retreat more and more from society.
I have a dream which came about after reading Anne Rand's book "Atlas shrugged", where a corrupt power hungry part of society wanted to take over everything. The more enlightened part of society chose to break away and rebuild where they could thrive and prosper.
You may say this is the thinking of a dreamer but I envision there will be a coming together of strong individuals, who will break away from society, rebuilding to emerge when the time is right.
H-m-m! Perhaps those people are here on Steemit. I have met some wonderful people and am part of communities that could play a part in this.
I have a song for you people -
Beautiful People by Melanie
Beautiful people
You live in the same world as I do
But somehow I never noticed
You before today
I'm ashamed to say
Beautiful people
We share the same back door
And it isn't right
We never met before
But then
We may never meet again
If I weren't afraid you'd laugh at me
I would run and take all your hands
And I'd gather everyone together for a day
And when we gather'd
I'll pass buttons out that say
Beautiful people
Then you'd never have to be alone
'Cause there'll always be someone
With the same button on as you
Include him in everything you do
I love engaging with folks here so please feel free to leave any comments or questions,
if you found this post beneficial an Upvote is appreciated.
Please don’t hesitate to follow me here on steemit at @porters
Aw, I used to love Melanie when I was a teenager!
Love this story of Aṅgulimāla. I think if it was today, he'd be seen as a terrorist, and we'd all be calling for blood. I think we could do worse as a society than listening to such stories of transformation and holding them up as a benchmark for the judicial system. Everyone deserves a chance to redeem themselves, and there are so, so many stories like this that I'm suprised we don't use them as a 'go to' rather than calling for people to be shot in the cold light of dawn.
My feelings exactly! I know with the constant changes who knows what paramis those accused may have had and to cut their life short denies any chance of reaching those aspirations.
Also more killing just perpetuates the cycle with more suffering!
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nice n simple really, yes rehabilitation is the need of the day.. its the only sensible option really when you look at the number of people incarcerated in many countries.!
ps dont forget to link this in my post!!! ;-)