Capital Punishment

Shelley West
G09w1284

Tweet: Capital punishment is an issue that must be given a lot of thought. The state has somebody’s life in their hands, and therefore exercising the power of the death penalty must be strongly questioned.

Capital punishment is a very controversial issue, and one that I personally feel strongly about. I do not believe in capital punishment. Some people agree with the view of “an eye for an eye” as in if someone commits murder they should then be sentence to death. This view is highly hypocritical. By sentencing someone to death it is simply condoning the act of killing. By sentencing someone to death for committing a murder is in turn committing the same crime the murderer did and therefore sanctioning the act of killing. Another argument is that there is a possibility of the state killing an innocent person if they were wrongfully convicted, and such a sentenced cannot be rectified as it would be able to do with say, a prison sentence. Furthermore by sentencing the murderer to death it is arguing that they do not have the ability to better themselves and change their lives around. This is a massive assumption and gross generalisation to make. This also lacks any faith in humankind and the ability to have genuine remorse. I think that by killing someone for a crime is taking away the option for them to redeem themselves, to better themselves and repent for their wrongdoings. I believe they must definitely be punished but within the parameters allowing those who want to change their lives the ability to do so. I personally believe in proportional punishment. This means that the offender must receive an appropriate sentence in relation to his crime. It means that for committing a murder one might not be sentenced to death but rather given another sentence that is in proportion to the severity of the crime.

Escaping to nature

I was feeling trapped, claustrophobic, exhausted and frustrated and all I wanted to do was run and get away to be alone. So I walked frantically, with tears streaming down my face and struggling to catch my breath to the furthest most remote place I could find in the Botanical Gardens. I collapsed on a patch of grass when my legs could no longer move and lay there. I lay in the shade of an exquisite tree with pink blossoming flowers that seemed to create this umbrella of beauty above me. I closed my eyes and began to slowly escape from reality with the distant noise of the weavers fluttering their wings frantically collecting essentials for their nests. The sound was soothing and allowed for my body to drift into a state of paralysed serenity. I was finally at peace. The stresses and pressures I had felt were slowly drifting over my body and escaping my soul, the cool breeze of the spring morning tickled my body into a deep, relaxing sleep that engulfed my every thought and feeling. I was content with a feeling of freedom that I had been searching for until that very moment.
Before I escaped to the Botanical Gardens I knew that if I found a place to be alone, it would cure my insecurities and exploding emotions. I knew that it was the perfect place to disappear to in order to regain my strength and distinguish my thoughts and feelings. This is the exact effect the Botanical Gardens had on me and I realised that although Grahamstown is an amazing place, there are times people need to get away and Botanical Gardens is the best place to do so in order to allow nature to surround and cleanse your soul.
Tweet: Running to escape, losing control and needing internal peace, an hour in the Botanical Gardens cleanses and relaxes the soul.

A Question of Priorities

I read the Editorial Column of the Activate newspaper dated Wednesday 14 October 2009. I find it extremly intresting that the broader society, even those suppossedly on a paper noted for its activism stance, only every seem to feel sympathy for human beings and sometimes even that can be a stretch. It is just yet another indication to me of what a self-absorbed society we have become,, mostly caring for only ourselves and when forced to do so caring for our own species at large. We do not care that we constantly torture and abuse other sentient creatures, because we “alone” are actually sentient. Everything else merely has a pulse and nothing more. The majority of people do not seem to realise that you cannot simply separate human rights from animal rights. The two are infact extremly closely interwoven. By trying to separate them we do a disservice not only to non-human creatures, but to ourselves as well. We have evolved far beyond the majority of needs supplied by many animals, and the constant torture and abuse we put them through is not only cruel, it has become outdated and intollerable. It's time for our self-absorbtion to end, and to start looking beyond ourselves to the greatness and wonder that surrounds us in so many shapes and forms and to start appreciating them more.