At what point.... ?

Here's something else to chew on...

You might notice here that I generally talk about whatever's on my mind and don't consider whether it's a Hallmark holiday or not. This morning I wrote something that is clearly not of interest .. I've deleted it .. but there's been something else on my mind that might be a bit more interesting to others.

The picture above is a young girl named Jessica Lunsford. Last year, she was kidnapped, raped and killed by John Couey, a guy who is a drifter, a convicted sex offender and generally a bad dude. He kidnapped Jessica from her bedroom, hid her in a closet at his sister's home, raped her repeatedly and ultimately buried her alive. She died in a plastic garbage bag, clutching a stuffed dolphin. There were scratch marks on the inside of the bag where she used two of her little fingers to scratch her way out.

His trial started this week. Currently, they are in jury selection so aside from Couey's confession, we don't know what evidence might be presented to the jury. By the time they stop haggling with the judge, it will likely be a watered-down version of what actually happened.

I got to thinking... at what point does someone cease to be human? At what point is someone so far beyond redemption that there is no benefit in trying to make any sense of their actions or their reasoning?

I am anti-death penalty. I don't like it here and I don't like it in Thailand. There is something so final about it that it will never feel morally or ethically correct. I would not be willing to vote for the death penalty, no matter who was involved. I wouldn't choose the death penalty for Adolf Hitler himself. It's just not my place.

Couey is a horrid man. There is no doubt about that. He is a shell of a human being. He definitely needs to be isolated from the rest of humanity for the remainder of his life.

This would be my suggestion: Absolutely no human contact in prison. No media. No television. Nothing that can possibly provide fodder for his sick fantasies. I believe the best way to deal with someone like that, someone who is beyond redemption by the consequences of his own choices, is complete isolation.

It's said that people who are entirely isolated eventually go insane. Let the demons in his head eat away at him until he finally dies in a hell of his own creation.

May little Jessica finally find some peace.


Peace,


~Chani