An American Tragedy (4/29/13)

I am sitting here watching CNN. The breaking news story of a beautiful little 8 year old girl, Leila Fowler, was murdered. I don't even know this little girl or her family but I have tears in my eyes. Why would anyone want to kill a child? Leila was at home with her 12 year old brother when she was murdered in Valley Springs, California. Now I don't know if people who have taken a life should ever get out. Certainly not for this. But I am pretty judgmental and very opinionated. I am so very far from being perfect. I was recently presented with a question, "What if your loved one was killed by someone, & 25 years later you were walking down the street & saw the person who killed your loved one. Just saying, how would that work?"

I think that's a great question. It's impossible to answer. You have to be a very compassionate person to be able to forgive. We are human and forgiveness does not come easy. I struggle every day to find forgiveness for others but then I ask for it myself. To forgive is one of the hardest things to do. The question is impossible for me to answer and I pray to God it never happens and I pray that it never happens to anyone I love or care for. Murder, to me, has become horrifying. I don't see the point in killing. Even animals. What's the point? Unless it is for absolute survival, I cannot agree with it. A guard in here told me just today that he sits on the back of his porch, drinking beers, and he has tons of wild rabbits that he shoots and kills with a BB gun, just for fun. He doesn't eat them, sell them, he just kills them for fun. But I've strayed from the topic I wanted to focus on. Leila Fowler, she was a beautiful little girl who I believe is in heaven now and I hope that whoever killed her, they are caught. I'll never claim to have all the answers and a lot of what I say is simply my opinion. I'm not sure if people realize this or not but there are literally hundreds of men, and maybe even a few women, in PA prisons who are sentenced to life for murder, who didn't even kill anyone. I'm not saying they are innocent but they could have been there but not have done anything. They could have been in the car while someone was gunned down in a store, wrong place, wrong time, bad situations. But not everyone who is in here for murder, took a life. There are a lot of different circumstances. Not everyone in here is a cold blooded killer. I know a man who killed the man who raped his young daughter. But since he planned it, he was given life. Does he deserve to die in here because he killed the man who raped his young child? I don't think so, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But for these people who don't deserve it, maybe they do deserve a 2nd chance at life on the outside. I'll leave it at that for today. My final heartbreaking thoughts are, "Riposa in Pace, Leila Fowler" (rest in peace). You do not have to know her to feel the pain. This is a sad day. Ciao.