Guilt, death penalty tied

I’ve been following Victoria Thorpe’s walk across Washington state to end the death penalty. It started in Spokane on Sept. 3 and was to conclude Sept. 21 in Olympia.

In interviews she is doing on the road, she asks the question, “Why do we have the death penalty?” Since I know the answer to that question but have not heard it said from others, I’ll say it here.

Everyone feels very guilty about some things in their lives – usually covered up and kept secret – and since our culture punishes guilt, we all want to point away from ourselves to someone else and say, “Look at that horrible person. That is who should be punished.”

We feel compelled to condemn others to keep all attention off ourselves. But we all still feel guilty about those secret things regardless of how well we have covered them up, so we never really feel free.

But what if we begin to value healing over punishment, not just for ourselves but for everyone, believing that as we give to others the same will be given us? Wouldn’t that change everything? See Matthew 7:2.

For information on Victoria’s walk visit: kerrylyndalton.blogspot.com/.

Jeremy Street

Cheney