saddened
my brother's friend (the lovely Grant) received awful news on his birthday whilst their whole gang was off having a celebratory drink at the Jolly Roger on Sunday. His mom (who had just that week come back from chemo, all clean and healthy), had been coming out of her sister's house and some guys had jumped out of the bushes and tried to grab her bag away from her. as a knee jerk reaction, she had tried to yank it away. and so, they shot her in the back of her head. and she died on the pavement.
why do people do this? we watch movies like tsotsi (which in my humble opinion was crap and did not deserve the oscar) that only serve to perpetrate excuses. 'oh these people have no other choice ... to survive' like its some kind of battle between 'haves' and 'have nots' modern day robin hoods. well, they're not. i am angry. which is not a usual emotion for me, and i know it will dissolve in about half an hour but right now i can see no excuse for human behaviour. we are, in a utopian way, supposed to abide by a common set of values and principles. and even if these differ in slight ways as they are want to do because of obvious cultural differences, in my mind i can't see the respect for the lives of others as having very much leeway... its kinda cut and dry.
so how do you change something like this? how do you try and implement respect in others? Shaks was telling me the other day, how mad she got in law - they were discussing rape and the different laws in different countries. In SA, if a woman agrees to sex and then, during sex, decides to stop, this is not considered rape (!) and some moron guy became all verbose and loud in agreement. and it took some girls in the class to stand up and counter-act him. how do we change these societal flaws? how do we try and promote, not even respect, but just simple dignity in others? i dont really know where to begin. and i am saddened.
posted by sarah @ 11:47 PM
5 Comments:
that is terrible. i don't understand it at all either. i will sit in saddness with you, until we find ways to move forward in love. love is always the right answer. real love.
That is really really horrible! I'm so sorry!
I blame movies too, because they always seem to make everything ok at the end. Like if you rob someone, and you're really really sorry, the person will say 'that's ok!' and it's all over.
We need to start understanding (on a deeper level than just our heads), that what happens in stories and books and tv is not real life.
I was listening to the radio this morning and they were talking about overcrowding in prisons. Some people were arrested almost 10 years ago, but are still awaiting trial. We should publish that as the result of what will happen to you if you hurt someone else.
It's days like these that the death penalty sounds so much better. Like WHY is a life sentence only 25 years? If someone kills someone else they shouldn't be up for parole in 10 years. It's all just WRONG.
P.S. Forgiveness is giviong up all hope for a better past.
That's my bumper sticker quote for the day.
i know
but i dont agree with the death penalty. i am 100% committed to its abolishment.
its atrocious.
I don't like the death penalty either, but sometimes I can't think of anything else. we need to SCARE people so they don't do stuff like that! Appealing to people's morals just doesn't work :(
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