Lavish love on others receive it gratefully when it come to you. Cultivate friendship like a garden. It is the best love of all.
Helen PrejeanThere are spaces of sorrow only God can touch.
Helen Prejeanpeople are more than the worst thing they have ever done in their lives
Helen Prejean[T]here are some human rights that are so deep that we can't negotiate them away. I mean people do heinous, terrible things. But there are basic human rights I believe that every human being has. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the United Nations says it for me. And it says there are two basic rights that can't be negotiated that government doesn't give for good behavior and doesn't take away for bad behavior. And it's the right not to be tortured and not to be killed. Because the flip side of this is that then when you say OK we're gonna turn over -- they truly have done heinous things, so now we will turn over to the government now the right to take their life. It involves other people in doing essentially the same kind of act."
(PBS Frontline: Angel on Death Row)
Tags: law government torture human-rights death-penalty capital-punishment right-to-life an-eye-for-an-eye criminal-justice criminal-justice-system death-row executions inalienable-rights right-to-live
I stand morally opposed to killing: war, executions, killing of the old and demented, the killing of children, unborn and born. . . . I believe that all of life is sacred and must be protected, especially in the vulnerable stages at the beginning of life and its end.
Helen PrejeanI keep thinking of the gifts of my own upbringing, which I once took for granted: I can read any book I choose and comprehend it. I can write a complete sentence and punctuate it correctly. If I need help, I can call on judges, attorneys, educators, ministers. I wonder what I would be like if I had grown up without such protections and supports. What cracks would have turned up in my character?
Helen PrejeanIn sorting out my feelings and beliefs, there is, however, one piece of moral ground of which I am absolutely certain: if I were to be murdered I would not want my murderer executed. I would not want my death avenged. Especially by government--which can't be trusted to control its own bureaucrats or collect taxes equitably or fill a pothole, much less decide which of its citizens to kill.
Helen PrejeanI realize that I cannot stand by silently as my government executes its citizens. If I do not speak out and resist, I am an accomplice.
Helen PrejeanI saw the suffering and I let myself feel it… I saw the injustice and was compelled to do something about it. I changed from being a nun who only prayed for the suffering world to a woman with my sleeves rolled up, living my prayer.
Helen PrejeanThe prospect that a person will be killed according to the policy he promulgates prompts the [priest] to urge clemency, an incomprehensible position logically.
Helen PrejeanPage 1 of 2.
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