I was watching "The First 48 Hours" on television the other night. The show is about investigations into homicides and how detectives have 48 hours to get a break in a murder case before it grows cold. It's a very interesting show. The one show I was watching was about three young guys who broke into a house and killed the father of a family. Two of the guys thought that they were just robbing the house. The third was there to kill the man as part of a contract killing. He was going to be paid $15,000 for the murder.
That incident got me thinking about why people kill. It was hinted at in the show that the murdered man may have had a checkered past... that he may have deserved it. Then I thought about all the drug dealers and traffickers that are killing each other in Mexico right now. Thousands dead as drug cartels fight for control of the routes that feed Americans' drug addictions. Did they deserve to die?
I was raised by a mother and father that believe in the rule of law. They'll be the first ones to criticize corruption and all the other shortcomings of the justice systems, but they still taught me to subject myself to the law. I think this deeply ingrained sense of justice stops me from killing anyone. The one exception being in self-defense. To protect my life and the lives of those I love, I'll fight like a lion.
But it is a fair question to ask how much a life is worth and whether or not one is worth more than another. Is the life of a career criminal worth taking for the right (or wrong) reasons. The State of Texas seems to think so. So do other States and other countries. It's a matter of ethics, morals, and all that other stuff that both separates us from the animals and makes us act like them.
The answers are not clear. On the one hand, some people should be taken out of this world because leaving them in it would bring more chaos and despair. On the other, who are we to make that decision? Better yet, what drives a person to make that decision? Premeditated murder is something that truly makes me wonder about what makes people tic. What drives someone to willfully and many times without remorse take another life? All those hit-men from drug cartels... Is it just a game, a job for them?
I don't think anyone has all the answers, and I don't think I want to know.
That incident got me thinking about why people kill. It was hinted at in the show that the murdered man may have had a checkered past... that he may have deserved it. Then I thought about all the drug dealers and traffickers that are killing each other in Mexico right now. Thousands dead as drug cartels fight for control of the routes that feed Americans' drug addictions. Did they deserve to die?
I was raised by a mother and father that believe in the rule of law. They'll be the first ones to criticize corruption and all the other shortcomings of the justice systems, but they still taught me to subject myself to the law. I think this deeply ingrained sense of justice stops me from killing anyone. The one exception being in self-defense. To protect my life and the lives of those I love, I'll fight like a lion.
But it is a fair question to ask how much a life is worth and whether or not one is worth more than another. Is the life of a career criminal worth taking for the right (or wrong) reasons. The State of Texas seems to think so. So do other States and other countries. It's a matter of ethics, morals, and all that other stuff that both separates us from the animals and makes us act like them.
The answers are not clear. On the one hand, some people should be taken out of this world because leaving them in it would bring more chaos and despair. On the other, who are we to make that decision? Better yet, what drives a person to make that decision? Premeditated murder is something that truly makes me wonder about what makes people tic. What drives someone to willfully and many times without remorse take another life? All those hit-men from drug cartels... Is it just a game, a job for them?
I don't think anyone has all the answers, and I don't think I want to know.
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