It seems to me that murder is murder, regardless of whether it is at the hands of a single individual or at the hands of the state. If God is all powerful, all knowing and all wise, why is it that human beings occasionally take matters into their own hands and decide the moment of a fellow soul's passing under the guise of legality??? This seems to be more a matter of convenience than anything else, and not truly driven by the mentality of 'right vs. wrong'. A little story...

Somewhere far away, buried deep in unknown mountains was an unnamed lake, a lake so deep and blue that a single glance at its tranquility could melt the hardest of souls. A school of small fish lived in this lake and spent their days swimming to and fro, always in perfect unison as if they were of one mind and one body.

One day a fish near the center of the school began swimming erratically and bumping continuously into the fish around him. This individual's reckless behavior quickly escalated into an apparent act of random and senseless violence. The other fish were utterly stunned as none of them had ever witnessed anything like this in their own short lives.

One by one, the other fish began to push back, at first in self-defense, but soon out of an anger spurned by their own sense of self-righteousness. "How dare this rebel upset the peace and tranquility of the school, how dare he threaten those around him"! Innately, the signal was sent to teach this individual a lesson and to protect the school at all costs as no one fish had the right to hurt another. The specter of violence swept throughout the school and soon most of the other fish were doing their best to join the fray, nipping at the renagade's fins and slamming into his small body. Soon the rebel was vanquished, his life ebbing away in brief convulsions of something misunderstood, yet his body continued to move rapidly through the school as if carried forward by some evil and unseen magic. The other fish moved aside and watched his body pass as they felt the short-lived ecstasy of the battle slip away, soon replaced by something new and quite uncomfortable. What now?

What the other fish had been unable to see as they pummeled one of their own right out of existence was that the rebel fish had become caught on a fisherman's line and was simply fighting for his life! The school had reacted to the appearance of things, and had not stopped to consider other possibilities.

We never know what "line " someone may be dancing on in this life, yet we humans are often quite quick to pass judgment and make condemnations about another's actions, often with lasting consequences. There certainly "appears" to be great evil in the world, but sometimes a little empathy will curb the rush to judgment and allow fresh perspectives to emerge. A little grace goes a long way in this world...Go in peace!