Sarah's Life

Crime and Punishment

Yes, I know it's the title of a book.
Yes, I know the book was long and boring (I just finished reading it)
Yes, this does have a point.

Nine months ago a friend of mine made a fatal mistake. He was driving down a road 30-35 mph above the speedlimit. Reckless you would call it. He caused a chain reaction resulting in the death of another man. Vehicular Homicide you would call it. I'm here to present a different opinion. Three days ago, his trial started. The jury heard witnesses speaking of the "carnage" of the accident. They also saw my friend on the stand crying. Picture a 6'5' football player crying. This is a guy that I have never seen cry before in my life. He's tough, he doesn't show his emotions. And he was crying. He was saying how he wished it had been him.

Recently, due to the attacks on Washington and the WTC, here in the USA we have been the victims. While I am not condoning the actions of the Terrorists, I feel that there are certain things we must take into consideration before we jump to conclusions.

In every courtroom there are two sides. The victim, and the defendant. Take a look at the courtroom from my friends side. Here is an intelligent, friendly guy who made a mistake. Here is my friend. Here is someone I have talked to day after day at school. Granted, I am not his best friend, I probably wouldn't even call myself a close friend. But I do my best to be a good friend. Here is someone who's life has just hit a major, MAJOR obstacle due to a stupid mistake. Look at that.

You may be saying "but he killed a man". Yes, I'll agree to that. But all I ask of anyone who reads this is: Before you jump down the throat of someone who has committed a crime, look at what it is doing to them. Not all of them are monsters, not all of them deserve to rot in jail until time ends. The victim is important, but so is the defendent - Sometimes mistakes are just that - mistakes.

Kgirlfae ~ Wanting