Sunday, January 27, 2013

Invitation To An Execution

Rolled out of bed this morning and read about an execution. Not your typical Sunday morning and that's the way I like it.

As a part timer I rarely get more than one day off in a row (not enough ever to re-charge the batteries and recalibrate a perspective; part of the torture.) You would think I would want to spend it in sunshine and smiles.

However, reading about an execution tightens my stomach and makes me uncomfortably happy.

Reading "Blues For Cannibals" by Charles Bowden. He was assigned to cover an execution In Arizona, was invited to attend.

Dig the invitation:

"You have been selected by inmate Michael Kent Poland to be invited to witness his execution at Arizona State Prison Complex at Florence, Arizona, at approximately 3:00 p.m. on June 16, 1999. You are under no obligation to appear as witness to this execution. Under the law, this inmate has the right to choose his method of execution. Inmate Poland did not choose a method of execution, therefore, he will be executed by lethal injection."

Kind of perverts the idea of invitation. Wedding invitation, birthday invitation, graduation invitation. Should invitation be linked with the word execution? Seems like we need to come up with another word.

It is such an odd and clinically cold thing. People sitting eight feet away from the condemned who is strapped to a gurney, everybody able to look at everybody else.

I believe in it from a revenge standpoint because I am a deeply vengeful man. I'm trying to lighten up but I got a lot of baggage there. Maybe witnessing an execution would be cathartic, turn me into a gentle lamb.

I don't believe in capital punishment because it is administered by humans. We are weak and prejudiced and corrupt and imperfect and if we knew how many innocent humans have been executed, we would be unable to breathe.

Unless you are a member of the NRA.

Imagine the exquisite torture of knowing you are about to be killed for something you did not do.

Anyway, there is a mike hanging over the head of the condemned as he is asked for any final words. The ultimate moment of false bravado and lie, from many accounts I have read. Which fascinates me because most of us false bravado and lie our way through life. Imagine having the cojones to take that to the very end. Even staring death in the face. That is commitment, baby.

And the ultimate proof that humans are delusional.

I wonder if anyone ever breaks into a rendition of "Always Look At The Bright Side Of Life".

It fascinates me to think how many people plot and carry out crimes believing they will not be caught. It also fascinates me to consider how many people actually do get away with heavy duty crime. They are the ones with the last laugh at us working stiffs.

Anyway, I read about an execution to start off my day off. With a cup of coffee at hand and my precious cats within my field of vision.

I am beginning to wonder if I am still qualified to use a term like field of vision, given how my life has turned out, but that is a topic for another time and place.

The book jumps from observation to observation, chapter by chapter. Offering interesting perspectives on life based on various experiences. I could not move on to the next chapter today. Tomorrow is another day.

Just another manic Sunday.

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