What is Justice, Really?

There's this guy that I know that recently went to prison and his maximum term is life. He's in there for killing a girl. I thought about it a lot when the news was fresh and everyone was up in arms about what he did, but I keep thinking about it periodically. It's weird, cuz he was in my math class in high school and we did trig together and laughed about random things. I thought he was a pretty cool person. Normal. Made some stupid choices sometimes, but not any that were uncommon for a high school senior.

It's been three-ish years since I've interacted with him, but I can't imagine he lost all humanity in that time. Yet during his trial, instead of weeping for the victim like everyone else, I couldn't help but let my heart weep for him. Don't get me wrong. What he did was very wrong. That girl's life was so precious and it is incredibly sad and unfair that she died at the hands of such rage. But without invalidating that, I felt like she was getting so much defense and support and he was getting none. My soul ached for the absence of love and forgiveness.

Speeches during the trial that ripped up one side of him and tore down the other. Hate groups on facebook created by all of his victim's friends. Ruthless, relentless, unfeeling attorneys. People calling for the death penalty. Comments that drove spears of bitterness deep into him.

This boy has been called a monster and a killer. Is he? Is that who he was born to be? Is killing, hating, and destroying all he is capable of?

Something in me screams so loudly against the kind of justice that returns wrong with revenge, hate with hate, death with death. If death, hate, and revenge are our reply to the broken things of this world, where is love supposed to begin? If we always wait for the next guy to live with love and forgiveness, the world will only sink deeper into the hole it is in while we all wait for what we ourselves are not willing to give. What if instead, we returned reckless hate with reckless love? What then?

When children are young, parents often discipline them when they do something wrong. Every now and then, a child steps so far out of line or gets so out of control that they need a time out or in some cases, a spanking, to catch their attention. This is the consequence of their actions -- the punishment.

But hopefully, if a parent is doing things right, they don't just stop there. Following the consequence there is usually a conversation to be had about what went wrong, why it was wrong, what could be done differently, and maybe how that situation could be fixed. And then at the end of it all, a second chance is given. The most important part of this discipline process was not the time out or spanking. It was the period of learning and growing afterward.

As I think about this boy, this man, this child of God that just has a lot of bad marks -- I am saddened. I am saddened because he is part of a system that acts as a perpetual consequence without offering much opportunity for growth or learning, and no one wants to give him a second chance. This system has the power to teach him that he IS a monster and a killer and that is what defines his life and why he is where he is, why he does what he does, why he lives the way he lives.

Mulling over his life, his worth as a human being, his trial, and the criminal "justice" system he has now entered into, I have realized this:

Punishment is not the teacher. It is merely the tool for helping a person get to a point where they are ready to be taught.

Does a life sentence leave any room for real, restorative justice?

Discovery

For the past four days I have been working at camp getting the site ready for staff training and a whole slew of summer campers. A few of us took on big tasks around the site like putting in waterfront docks, shoveling out old wet and moldy leaves from the perimeter of a basketball court, setting up hogans (kind of like platform tents, but not), painting, powerwashing, weed-wacking, mowing, organizing, moving, etc.

It was so good to put in long days of really physical work. There were moments when the group of us just collapsed on the ground under heat and exhaustion, but in the long run, it felt great to use our bodies for the kinds of work that they were made for. Running on a treadmill or sitting on a stationary bike inside an air conditioned gym just doesn't do the same things for your soul.

While we were cleaning out a storage cabin, we discovered that the cabin had become a bed and breakfast for all sorts of creatures over the winter -- rugs were chewed up, hammocks dumped on, craft supplies shredded. As we were cleaning out our archery cabinet, a mother mouse scurried out after realizing we were cleaning things out. She left behind six babies, only a day or two old. We picked them up and put them in a safe spot where we hoped she would find them again... one can only hope that's what happened and that they didn't become dinner for a feral cat or racoon. Either way, they were so adorable. Naked, translucent, blind, and helpless, I saw so much vulnerable beauty in their tiny bodies. :)

Then this morning our camp chef, John, pointed out a family of birds out learning to fly. I love this place.

CAMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah. That's where I'll be for the summer.
<------Doing this.

So if I blog a bit less, that would be why.

Matthew Scott Pieper

So I had this friend named Matt.
He was a kick ass friend.
Matt was a messianic jew,
Who smoked lots of pot
And spent hours doing html coding for fun.
He loved lots of people
And lived real simple-like.
Except for when it came to wine,
Which he was real particular about.
He introduced me to all my favorite jam bands
And Julia Nunes.
We were going to go to Bonnaroo someday
And eat brownies and sell grilled cheese and kool-aid
To hippie moms and dads and babies.
Matt died last year.
Today's just a day for remembering.

Um, yes.

I think I will have to partake in this glorious event at least once while I'm living in Philadelphia.

Cool Things I Love and Did Not Discover On My Own

Cool Thing #1: My friend posted this on her blog and it made my heart happy to see someone using film to share a story like Louie's and also just to see people loving in a world that is often so misunderstanding:

Louie from Brian Moore on Vimeo.

Cool Thing #2: Found on another friend's blog, Kiva is an organization, started in 2005, that allows you to support people with a $25 loan toward a small business that is aimed to alleviate poverty. As the business grows, the owner begins to repay you so that in time, you can use that $25 to support another small business. How cool is that? Just twenty-five bucks getting passed around and helping loads of people fight poverty. I am definitely doing this.