This morning, I scanned my native newspaper as I sipped my first cup of espresso and was slammed with a litany of depressingly awful information.
First, Anthony Robinson, a 17-year-old highschool pupil, was shot and killed simply after getting off a college bus. The police arrested a 16-year-old and charged him with first-degree homicide.
Second, the Baton Rouge police charged a 3rd pupil with felony hazing after Caleb Wilson, a fraternity pledge at Southern College, died from accidents he acquired throughout a hazing ceremony.
Third, a federal decide halted the scheduled execution of Jessie Hoffman Jr., a convicted assassin, to contemplate Hoffman’s argument that execution by nitrogen fuel constitutes “merciless and strange punishment” in violation of his constitutional rights.
And there is extra. Ashley Lights, a 39-year-old mom, was arraigned on prices of felony abortion for reportedly giving her teenage daughter abortion-inducing medicine that Lights ordered on-line from New York.
All these information tales are miserable, however they’re notably dispiriting as a result of they spotlight our society’s incapacity to resolve our most profound and pervasive social issues.
The USA has struggled with the problem of faculty violence because the Columbine college bloodbath greater than 25 years in the past. But a 16-year-old Baton Rouge child was apparently in a position to acquire a loaded pistol and gun down a highschool pupil.
Louisiana strengthened its anti-hazing legislation after Max Gruver, an LSU fraternity pledge, died of alcohol poisoning in 2017. One LSU pupil was sentenced to jail for negligent murder within the wake of that tragedy, however fraternity hazing continues in Louisiana.
After which there’s the continued litigation to cease capital punishment on this nation, which has stretched out over many years whereas greater than 2,000 males and some girls sit on demise row.
I am adamantly against the demise penalty for one purpose: the apply brutalizes our society. Nonetheless, I do not perceive why one man’s execution is delayed in Louisiana to find out whether or not demise by nitrogen fuel is unconstitutional whereas a person in South Carolina is executed by a firing squad.
I am additionally troubled in regards to the felony case in opposition to Ashley Lights, the mom who allegedly obtained abortion-inducing medicine from a state the place such medicine are authorized after which gave them to her daughter in Louisiana, the place abortion is against the law.
Like most Individuals, I consider abortion is unsuitable, however I am sympathetic to girls caught in determined circumstances or who change into pregnant by means of incest or rape. The prosecution wouldn’t need me on the jury if Ms. Lights’s case goes to trial.
A lot of the points highlighted in my morning newspaper will likely be resolved within the courts, however the bigger points that these instances symbolize will proceed to fester for a few years. These occasions remind me that I don’t dwell in the very best of all attainable worlds and that my puny efforts will do little to make the world a greater place.
Voltaire is correct to remind us that each one we are able to do on this world of violence and injustice is domesticate our gardens.
My spring backyard is planted in tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, and popcorn. If my popcorn is successful, I can not less than take consolation in understanding that my homegrown popcorn is healthier than Orville Redenbacher’s.
 |
| Jesse Hoffman Jr., scheduled for execution on March 18 |
