Behold the face of tragedy, a child, a convicted murderess glaring balefully at the camera.A soul in torment for whom life has nothing to offer and for whom it never has and probably never will.
What is her story? That I can't tell because I don't know it beyond what this article tells me.
And it tells me she was in "care" before she committed the crime that she plead guilty to.
And that social workers did their best
We and a team of experienced professionals had put every resource available into trying to help Tonya lead a normal life. We tried to give her guidance, allow her some freedoms and equip her with the skills she needed to live successfully in the community.
But can social workers give her what everybody needs and that is love?
Because I'll bet nobody ever sat this child on their knee and read her Dr Seuss books, or took her to ballet lessons. Or tucked her snuggly into her bed and said her prayers with her.
Some might look at that photo and see the face of evil. I don't, I see a neglected and wounded soul.
And I feel sadness.
1 Corinthians 13
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Well said Andrei. Good for you.
ReplyDeleteIt is without justice and discipline that love has been with-held from this child.
ReplyDeleteShe should be dead.
We profane God, killing people who should not die, and keeping people alive who should not live. We build a society based on our perverted sense of right and wrong where a man is condemned for demanding justice, where a girl is pitied for being a murderer and where discipline is denied a place among the virtues and is called a crime.
If she had been rightly taught the penalty for her crimes then, in all likelihood, we would still have her victim alive today. Instead we tolerate her crime and suppress the truth because the truth is far too dangerous.
Do you think it is wrong to have pity on this girl and to pray for her Stripe?
ReplyDeleteIt would seem from reading more stories even her lawyer more or less abandoned her - had her plead guilty to murder instead of trying to get the charge reduced to manslaughter and she (the lawyer) also said prison will be the first stable environment this child has ever known.
If she had been rightly taught the penalty for her crimes then ....
Well you can count your blessings that there was someone who rightly taught you then.
And nobody is "tolerating her crime" nobody at all.
Easy on the "we" Stripe. A hell of a lot of "we" don't do the things you describe.
ReplyDeleteCollective "responsibility" enables collective solutions--which are no solutions at all.
I'm no bleeding-heart liberal--far, far from it. But I also believe empathy and compassion are vital human attributes and without those we're less than the beasts in the fields.
Again, good on Andrei for this post.
Beautifully said Andrei!
ReplyDeleteHi, Andrei.
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't think it is wrong to have pity on this girl and to pray for her. But the important truth is that her life was destroyed by her actions. And her actions were almost certainly due to a lack of proper justice and discipline within our society.
She should have been rightly taught that the penalty for her crime is death. Too late now, she may not be punished as she should have been by a retroactive law. But perhaps her act might snap a few more to attention rather than lulling a few more into desensitisation. The penalty for murder should be death. That is the only effective deterrent to the ever escalating murder rate.
Everyone who believes she deserves assistance, counselling, accommodation, food ... life, is tolerating her crime. It is only that the law forbids it that she may remain. Hopefully her remaining will help change the law.
KG - any of us who seek life for murderers are guilty of profaning God's standards. Do you think New Zealand's law should reflect God's standards?
What does, "Collective responsibility enables collective solutions--which are no solutions at all" mean?
We are allowed to have empathy and compassion. But in the right circumstances, please. There is most certainly a time to forego our empathy and compassion and act according to the demands of proper justice.
You must agree with that last statement whatever you believe the law should be.
"You must agree with that last statement whatever you believe the law should be."
ReplyDeleteI must agree? Well,no.
"allowed"? By whom?
"right circumstances"? Who gets to define those?
"proper justice"? Proper, according to what--and whom?
"KG - any of us who seek life for murderers are guilty of profaning God's standards. Do you think New Zealand's law should reflect God's standards?"
No I do not. When various Christian groups are at odds over just what constitutes "God's standards" (and that's a whole other argument in itself) how do you propose to apply these "standards"?
And I'll let you into a little secret-the law isn't infallible, something that's been demonstrated again and again by the number of people jailed and subsequently released when discovered to have been innocent after all.
The legal system is corrupt, individual judges are corrupt and/or incompetent, jurors are very often too uninformed to make sense of complex evidence...the list goes on but perhaps you get the picture.
If you're happy to see somebody killed in your name by that system then I'd suggest you have no idea of just what you're advocating.
KG - You really should agree with this, "There is most certainly a time to forego our empathy and compassion and act according to the demands of proper justice."
ReplyDeleteOr do you think we should with-hold the law every time we feel compassion for a criminal?
What I'm advocating is that the current system is clearly not working. The murder rate is increasing and our murderers are getting younger and more rebellious.
The answer is to re-install the death penalty for murder. That's how we used to do it. That's how God did it. And it seems to work out best for the murderer.
"There is most certainly a time to forego our empathy and compassion and act according to the demands of proper justice."
ReplyDeleteSure--provided we have the means to identify the guilty beyond all doubt, have a "proper" justice system to determine that and apply the penalty.
"The answer is to re-install the death penalty for murder. That's how we used to do it. That's how God did it."
God did no such thing..man did it, often in God's name. Man also used to make human sacrifices...in the name of their gods.
And you still don't address the problem of a corrupt legal system and the possibility of somebody being falsely accused and convicted.
If you do not believe God installed the death penalty then there is no point pursuing this conversation. Go well, my friend. :)
ReplyDeleteYou too. Pax.
ReplyDeleteAndre - good post. And 100% spot on.
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, old testament law goes something along the lines of a murderer living under the guidence/arrest of the local priest, or is moved to another town with no further contact with town where crime took place - also ward of local priest. "God's says" we shouldn't kill, that "vegence is mine" and that occasionally he'll send men to do his dirty work and killing for him, to punish those who piss him off by breaking his rules. Dunno how that applies to this situation. Only god would know if the victims had pissed him off.
ReplyDeleteMoses got pretty pissed off when he came back down the mountain to find Idolaters and started chucking the worst offenders off cliffs and using other interesting ends. Then around the middle of the Bible god says that he cares for every sparrow in the field and people are worth much more than those - so don't worry about anything. He must have been having a good father day.
Then in new testament it becomes "he who has no sin, let him cast he first stone" or "I haven't come to condemn, but to set free" and there's even the scene where the people pick a murderer over Jesus for Pilate to set free.
The tone over the length of the bible changes from an active Kill'em all, to a passive oh gosh, you people actually want murderers don't you? Well there's nothing I can do then...
Hi, Mr. 00.. :)
ReplyDeleteOT law for the city of refuge is for the man who accidentally kills a man. He may flee to a city of refuge and give his account to the rulers there who will place him under the protection of the priest until the priest dies and vengeance may not be sought on him (unless it is found he is lying about the circumstances of the death). This law did not apply to murderers.
Your analysis of God's standards for what should happen to murderers is wholly unrelated to the facts. :)