(WNBK) #3: "The Old Rugged Cross"
Herbert Duncan notices how frequently he receives offers of things and of help from prison staff on the final day of his life. Where do you suppose this generosity comes from? What is the possible relevance of this to the argument of the book? How does it make you feel?
Newfound generosity is given from prison staff to Herbert because of their conscience and heart. In the end, when you are given that power to take another life, (and what a terrible amount of power that is), things change. You have the option of being merciful. Especially in Duncan's case, a good heart and decent moral remains. They probably all knew it wasn't right. He shouldn't be sentenced to the electric chair. Yet, it's their job. They follow orders; they do what they must. How you swallow the pill: you can help it to go down, or watch the taker choke. Perhaps the benevolence also comes from a source of guilt.
ReplyDeleteThe kind offers' of the guards relates to the main theme of the book, on that we should have mercy on those who tumble below us. I feel warm, hopeful, and sorrowful when I think of how kind we can be to someone in that situation, and I imagine I would try my best to comfort if I were an officer, but I believe it depends on the case how much mercy should be given. In Herbert's case, he deserves life. Stretching far over to a convicted like Ted Bundy, however...I'm not so sure. I guess all we can do is make the ride a little smoother however we can.
I agree entirely with Gigi. Morally, as a human being, things change when you are given the power to take another life. For me, at least, even if the person were awful and did terrible things in their life, if I had to watch or just participate in the execution of another I would feel guilty. Not necessarily because I don’t believe they deserved it, but because I had to watch the most precious thing in the universe (life) disappear. I can’t say I know how I’d react to that person in that day, but I can say I would try to make that prisoner as comfortable as possible because I'd know they wouldn’t be there tomorrow. I feel mournful when I think about all these things happening in our world, and it makes me appreciate my life more as well as life in general. We’re only here for a short time, so live every day beautifully because you’ll never know when it’ll be your last.
ReplyDelete-Brianna Davenport
The generosity towards Herbert Duncan from the prison staff comes from the goodness of their hearts. Morally speaking, whether or not someone did something horrible to another human or something horrible in general, doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t feel bad for taking away their life. Life is one of the only things we all have in common. We all share living space, air that helps us breathe, and food and water that help us survive. In the world, one of our only jobs is to keep our body alive. When someone no longer is able to make the decision for themself to stay alive or not, especially when we play a role in that decision, we feel sad for that person and everything they are losing. Knowing this makes me sad, because I know if my independence was taken away from, and my right to choose if I live or not was no longer up to me, I would be unexplainably upset and angry.
ReplyDeleteThe prison staff was trying to make Herbert’s last day a good one given the circumstances. They all wanted to make him as comfortable as possible, because I’m sure they felt guilty for what they had to do. This is relevant to the book because a lot of the stories Bryan Stevenson told, whether or not the criminal was executed, these prisoners were not able to make decisions for themselves anymore. The argument of this book is that we need to expect better out of people and by this staff showing compassion towards Herbert, we know we can expect the good out of people in bad situations.
The generosity that Herbert Duncan received on his final day of life comes from two places: a person's conscience, and a person's humanity. A person's conscience can cause them to have second thoughts and feel bad about what they are doing. Since Duncan is being put to death when he has a mental disability, some people may not agree with his sentence and therefore treat him differently. Humanity also contributes to the change of treatment that Herbert Duncan received on his last day of life. Even though this person did something terrible, you are killing them which is against human nature. This causes different reactions in the way Herbert is treated. His mental disability makes his case stand out to those who treat him better on his last day. This ties into the book and the thought that people should not be treated unlawfully but instead should be treated with human rights and mercy, like Duncan was on his last day.
ReplyDeleteThis whole story makes me upset because Herbert Duncan should not have been in this situation in the first place. If a person has a mental disability, they should be sent to a mental health facility, not death row. The way that this case was handled would be unthinkable in today's times. However, I am glad that he at least got the treatment he deserved on his last day. At least Duncan died with the memories of a reasonable day in which he was treated fair and good.