Demons

We watched 'Walk the Line' the other night. If you haven't seen this movie, go out and rent it. It was excellent.

It got me to thinking. Books and movies frequently do that. I can't turn off the T.V. or close a book and be done; they stay fresh in my mind for days as I mull them over, chew on them, and try hard to make more sense of them. Mr. Cash had some serious demons. He was a man who was full to the brim with hurt. His hurt manifested itself in a variety of ways, some good, and some bad. He became an amazing song writer and performer. He also became a man his family couldn't depend on, who abused his body with drug and drink.

I find that the older I get, the more the world is comprised of gray areas. When I was in my early teenage years, and knew everything, there was a whole lot more black and white. The answers were crystal clear.

Now, not so much. I've tried to make it harder and harder for myself to make blanket judgments of others. I've tried to inundate myself with information and alternative view points that allow me to consider the other side of the story, or to see the human behind the awful actions.

I read a book a while back titled, 'Last Chance in Texas, The Redemption of Criminal Youth' by John Hubner. Read it. You can't possibly read this book without gaining a new perspective on teenage criminals.

I also watched 'The Woodsman'. Watch it. It doesn't make excuses for a man who molests little girls, but it makes it clear that the man struggles day in and day out. He's a human being who has a problem. But he's a human none-the-less.

I remember being in a class and having a debate about what society should do with child predators and murderers. I took the position that they are humans, and we should do everything we can to not cast them aside and forget about them. When I took this position, I did it primarily because everyone else simply seemed to be in a lynching state of mind. Everyone in the class was on the same page. I hated that. It just seemed like the easy route to thrust criminals into a cell, consider them demon spawn, and think about it no more. I felt like someone should offer up an alternative. So, unsure as to whether I believed what I was saying or not, I began defending criminals who had committed heinous acts. I was of course not defending the crime, but the human hidden somewhere behind the ugly. I found myself taking the position that it is human society's JOB to eke out whatever is left of a criminal's humanity. I think we should try to shine a light on the part of a person's soul that is not damaged. I'm not saying that an intact portion exists in every criminal, (since I'm not entirely sure) but I am saying we should try and find out if one is still thriving.

I guess the long and short of this whole deal is that I'm still unsure exactly where I stand. I've written and re-written this post several times, and am still unhappy with the result. The point I'm trying to make, I suppose, is that it's really easy to cast aspersions. It's not difficult to saddle someone who did a bad thing with the reputation that he or she is a bad person. I think it's a challenge to try and look beyond someone's actions (regardless of severity) and try to understand what is going on underneath the surface.

Does this post make any sense at all?! Sometimes articulation is not my specialty. Grrrr...