As something of a challenge, I'm going to write a column on two subjects that I know nothing about: death and women.
Death is a mystery to me, and I try not to think about it - not because I am afraid, but because I cannot even imagine what death is like. Yet I must consider death from time to time because it is a part of life. After all, people die every day, and it seems like a good number of them are killed by the state of Texas.
Today, Karla Faye Tucker will be put to death as punishment for taking two lives without reason or remorse.
This is not a good thing. There's no question about that. Nothing good can come of it, but punishment is not meant to have a positive side. As no one will benefit from Tucker's execution, there are a lot of good arguments against it.
First of all, anyone who has even a rudimentary understanding of philosophy or astronomy knows that life is precious and that any waste of it is a tragedy.
Next, Tucker has changed during her fourteen years behind bars. She has found Jesus and modeled her life on his teachings. By all accounts, she has become a fine and decent human being, no longer capable of the mayhem of which she was found guilty.
Finally, Tucker is a woman, and women are, without a doubt, the most wondrous things in creation. It would be a crime in itself to destroy one.
These are all very good reasons for sparing Tucker's life. However, I am inclined to disagree with them:
First of all, the waste of a life is a tragedy, and Tucker wasted two of them, murdering Jerry Lynn Dean and Deborah Thornton with savage brutality. Except for perhaps treason, there is no greater crime. And the ultimate crime deserves the ultimate punishment.
Next, I'm glad that Tucker has changed as a person over these past fourteen years, but that is not change enough. Nothing will change the fact that Jerry and Deborah are rotting in the ground because of Tucker's deeds, deprived of the years she has been given. As far as I'm concerned, Tucker has only been living on borrowed time since the murders.
No, not borrowed. Stolen. Her time came fourteen years ago and she squandered it with a senseless act of violence. Tucker has already lived longer than she deserves.
And as for Tucker having found Jesus, I could care less. As I am an atheist, she could find Noah's ark, and it wouldn't matter to me.
Finally, I do believe that killing a woman is morally and naturally wrong, but Tucker is already responsible for the death of a woman herself. Justice demands that she suffer a similar fate. It is a crime to destroy a woman, but the crime is not ours.
Tucker destroyed her own life along with two others. The needle is therefore a mere formality: the end of a road which Tucker chose to walk long ago. My regret is for the choice, not the consequences.
These are all good and logical arguments for and against sparing Tucker's life, but there are only two real questions that need to be answered: Do some people desire to die? And is Karla Faye Tucker one of them?
Death is a mystery to me, and I try not to think about Tucker slamming a pick ax into two souls, ripping them to shreds. And after today, I won't have to think about that or Karla Faye ever again. And I think that's a good thing.
Ginsburg is a
Senior RTV major.