No fear; I am not about to whinge or complain about what faces me in the coming week. Some constructive criticism from one closest to me, deriding me for my lack of imagination and sick of my constant harping about the drudgery of work has persuaded me to let any thought of writing such go by the wayside. “We get it”, she could have said, “work is evil! Get over it!” This is why I need constructive criticism. To improve myself and my blog and my writing. Get on-board and give me feedback. There is a place to write replies at the bottom of every post. You can leave anonymous messages if you want although they will be moderated. I welcome the input.
Easter has been quiet but enjoyable and I have hardly left the house. I can almost feel my waistline expanding as the chocolate and ice cream and biscuits and pizza I have eaten over the weekend break down and deposit their fatty residue through my intestines and plant itself like moss on a rocky hillside in the warm and inviting environs of my glutius maximus and other enticing parts of my anatomy. I may have to expand my belt by an extra notch tomorrow!
Easter is the most important Christian holiday of course. I am not a particularly religious person but the goodwill of the season and the remains of my catholic upbringing mean I treat the holiday with all the respect it deserves. I hope you all reaped the benefits of the goodwill this time of the year brings.
Two young men who are not enjoying the goodwill of the season and are notorious for their sins are Myarun Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, two of the ringleaders of the “Bali 9” drug smuggling ring who are on death row in Indonesia as I write. Word has filtered through this evening that their last appeal against the death sentence has been thrown out by a court in Jakarta, condemning them to their grubby fate and forever staining the character of the President of Indonesia in my eyes.
I am not one who thinks the death penalty should never be considered although my thoughts on the subject can be ambiguous. I can see an argument for ending the life of serial killers and mass murderers, people who are a blight on humanity and have forfeited their rights to live among good people in our community. But, when discussing the subject, my latent Christian mores will surface and remind me that humanity should always prevail and a decent society should be judged on it’s ability to grant mercy.
Many will and do argue that if you break the law in a foreign country where the price of your crime is death then there should be no mercy, no reprieve, no second chance to admit what you did was wrong and stupid and no chance to atone for your sins and make yourself a better person. I don’t understand people who harbour those sentiments. There are those who condemn Myuran and Andrew because of the deaths they may have caused through smuggling heroin into Australia but I have never heard of a drug addict who was conscripted into a life of substance abuse.
I can’t see the justice in leaving two young men on death row for a decade, giving them every chance to rehabilitate themselves which from all accounts they have done, only to snuff out their precious lives on the whim of a newly elected President, a furniture salesman in a former life and a politician who is from all accounts more concerned with making himself look a figure of substance to his people rather than a man capable of clemency.
So, on this Easter Monday, a day when Christians remember the suffering of their Saviour who died for their sins, it is worth remembering those who will soon die for their own sins and the mothers who will grieve for them. Although I do not know them and despise their crimes, I will decry their punishment and mourn their fate. And I know many of you will too.
Have great week.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 