Many years ago, during a particularly dark period of my life, I wrote a one-scene play. It was one of a number of works that I felt inspired to create. Thankfully I seem to have come out of that melancholy for good, but there will forever be a mark on my soul from that time. I like to think that what I've done since has been, for lack of a better term, "happier".
So, about this play...
It's a single scene. Involving a man and a woman. And they come to have a heated discussion involving another woman. All throughout the play you're wondering "who are these people? What are they talking about? Does this involve an affair that he's been caught in?"
Finally, in the last moments of the play, comes the big reveal. The object of their conversation is a woman who is about to be executed and the man - who is the governor of the state - has rejected all requests for clemency. The life of this woman has fallen into his hands and he has the power to grant mercy or to let justice run its course.
There was never an agenda when I wrote this play. It was simply a scenario that had crossed my mind and I felt like it would make an interesting dramatic presentation. And so I wrote it. So far very few people have read it. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll get to see it produced. That would indeed be a fine arrow in the quiver of my skills and accomplishments.
I'm thinking of my play this morning, mostly because of what is about to happen in the state of Tennessee in another hour. At 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, Christa Pike is going to be executed by lethal injection. It will be the final act of a chain of events stretching back to January of 1995, when Pike and two other people brutally murdered a young woman. I'll spare you the details. It was as heinous an act as there is likely to be. Among other things Pike carved a pentagram into her victim's body.
And so it has come to this: all the appeals have been exhausted and the governor refuses to yield and the United States Supreme Court has chosen to not intervene. In a short while Christa Pike will be brought into this room and strapped down to the gurney and have a needle inserted into her arm. At the appointed time a series of substances will be injected into her: starting with a powerful anesthetic that will drop her into a sleep almost like death. And then a "drug" that will stop her heart and breathing.
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| The death chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Tennessee |
Once upon a time, I was adamantly against the death penalty. I thought it was barbaric, and beneath the level of civilized humanity. We were supposed to be better than that, I believed. A person who committed an act of murder should be imprisoned for life without parole. There couldn't be anything worse than that. It's what a people who have arisen above their impulses for revenge should do.
I'm older now. Hopefully not too jaded. I still believe that people are capable of great things, that they are not necessarily creatures of inherent cruelty. However, I am also a realist. And I do know that for as long as man will be upon the earth, there will also be the capacity for terrible acts of violence and bloodshed.
I used to be against the death penalty. And now? I believe that it should not only be legal, but that there are times when it is warranted and even necessary.
Human life is a precious and sacred thing. There can be no taking from that without dire repercussion. Acting to murder someone diminishes that sanctity. It takes away from the priceless value of life. We like to believe that a civilized society regards all human life as, for lack of a different term, holy. And I could say something about other issues regarding innocent life, but I shall save that for another time.
It's not left to anyone to decide that another person should die. That is something left to higher power above mankind. To assume that power is to violate the natural order of things. Are there occasions where taking of human life is justifiable? Yes, there are. Acts of self-defense or defense of loved ones, those especially come to mind. And again, I could say something about another matter pertaining to self-defense, but I won't for now.
An act of heartless and soulless murder, however, inflicts a horrific wound upon the body of the human condition as agreed upon by a people of law. And it is something that requires an act to bring it back into balance.
That act is at least a penalty of time in prison. And at its worst, it calls for the forfeiture of the life of the offender. It has to be this way. For life to remain of value, a life must be exacted in kind.
That is what Christa Pike is going to do this morning. She is going to pay the price for taking a life in the manner that she did it.
"But Chris, she can be forgiven for what she did!" Yes, she can. I'm of the belief that forgiveness is always available for us, no matter our transgressions. I believe that God is ever ready to forgive those who believe upon His love and redemptive nature and finished work. What a person has done, no matter how terrible, it doesn't matter in God's economy.
People like Christa Pike can find forgiveness. They can not find escape from the temporal penalty however. That remains to be paid. And I believe that a person who truly is remorseful is going to accept that as being their fate.
That's a harsh thing to believe, but there it is. If Pike has remorse for what she did, her soul can be saved. But ultimately that is not the prerogative of the government to grant. It's up to her. I hope that she does feel remorse for her actions. I like to think that as long as they live no one is beyond redemption.
That's something between her and God however. Or whoever or whatever the higher power it is that she chooses to believe in.
So there it is: I once considered the death penalty to be a cruel and heartless thing. I now believe that for a culture to continue to value the sacredness and priceless value of human life, it must also be prepared to take life that violates the natural order in the worst way. We can choose to mete out the final act of justice in a way that is solemn and dignified, and I think that is morally required for a noble people.
I pray that Christa Pike, and anyone else facing execution, will be at a place of enormous peace when they come to the last moments. And I pray that the rest of us will find a sense of completion. The deed will have been done. Life will continue, and perhaps with a bit more regard for innocence.
Which, is what this is all about to begin with.
