Tookie

Tookie Williams is going to die. The Govenator his'self has declined to grant clemency, and the execution will go ahead as planned. In the wee morning hours Tookie is going to close his eyes and take the big nap.
And everyone seems to be upset about this.
I'm not.

There are a few people on death row, and a few others doing hard time, who I think need their situation improved - be it taken off the row, or pardoned all togather. I think there's probably more than a few who I dont even know about who dont deserve to die, and may be innocent all togather, and I'm all for doing what is necessary to find the truth.
But, if you've been convicted beyond any reasonable doubt, not railroaded, set up or framed (and I think we can all agree that Stan "Tookie" Williams was guilty, of some murders if by some slim chance not those murders) then you need to take your lumps.
Now, I believe in vengance to a degree. But I think vengance is personal, I dont believe the state has a right to carry it out. The state's duty is simply to handle the working end of a jury's decision, and carry out sentance - be it jail, or actual punishment - as an aid to the society it (the state, the government) serves, to keep harmful and predatory humans from having room and freedom to cause harm and prey upon others. If that means execution, then so be it.
I've said this before, people are too serious about death. Death is not an end, it is another part of the journey.
Tookie Williams, people like him (or like he was, if you believe he has truly changed), have lived horrible, tortured lives. They have also chosen to inflict that horror and torture on others in some awful ways. Beyond the need for vengance, beyond event he need for justice, there is a greater need served by their deaths - They need to be set free from this world, for their own good.
If you are Christian and believe Tookie has reformed, then you can take comfort that he will stand before his God, and be welcomed by Him.
If you dont think he has reformed, you will take the same comfort that he may burn in the fires of Hell.
I am not a Christian, but I think thats a lovely idea... both of them. To a point. I believe that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, on the spiritual plane. For every kindness, a kindness. For every evil, an evil in return. Salvation, in whatever form you believe in it in, is a work in progress for us all - Tookie Williams has a lot to attone for... far more than he can in this life. If he has already started here, more the better, but to be free of the brutality, the negativity, of his life and to really turn it around he has to be free of his life.

I also believe that if Tookie were truly reformed he would accept his death, without whining and sniveling, trying to get out of it.
He would stand up, comfortable in his own skin and comfortable with his fate, look at it head on and go quietly. He hasnt gone quietly, and that strikes me as very selfish, self serving.
Tookie Williams is a murderer, among other things, and in his heart probably an unrepentant one. Tookie needs to leave this life, and try, try again, in whatever form the cosmos would provide, to do better the next time around.
And the families of his victims need to know he is dead. Vengance is personal... and if they can find it in this, they deserve it.