9 March 2018
“It’s only money. You can always get some more.”
Generally true. It is not a disaster of pestilential proportions to lose your wallet or to have your purse snatched, but it’s NOT “only money.” Money is just the most convenient form that you can manage to make of your talents, your efforts, and your IRREPLACEABLE TIME. Time is all we ever get, ultimately, to experience and create and savor life. When we are robbed, then, we are robbed of life. Admittedly small fractions, but finite nevertheless, and they add up. I’m not about to get all Ye Olde Testament on ya’ll and propose the gallows for purse snatchers and second story men, but, well… there is a limit.
Why do we punish homicide more than most other crimes? More than taxation, which is fractional (if persistent and cumulative), homicide is complete. It is the deprivation of an entire lifetime of experience and wonder and joy. Whether it’s for profit or pleasure or because of egregious and depraved indifference, if you kill it is not unreasonable to expect some communities to string you up or lock you up or otherwise contain the clear and present danger you present.
If we punish homicide to answer the loss of an entire lifetime, we might ask, “What exactly is an entire lifetime?” Let’s get metrical and let’s be generous. In contracts and statutes, terms are specific. Let’s say a lifetime is one million hours. That’s a nice round number and it works out to about 114 years. Not common, but not unprecedented either, and medicos continue to refine their craft.
Ever been in a traffic jam? Now multiply your anguish by the legions around you. Some severe traffic jams can add up to thousands of lost manhours. No fun time, but no hanging offense, either. Most of us feel for the poor schmuck whose tire blew out up ‘round the next bend. Besides, we make allowances for accidents. Now blow up a major bridge over the Ohio River during rush hour — and amazingly not kill a single motorist in the doing so. Even without immediate fatality, the resulting mess would back up literally for miles and hours. Along such a presumed major traffic corridor the loss of irreplaceable time could easily go into the millions of manhours.
Ever suffer a cyber attack? Virus infect your desk top? How much time did you spend recovering (or recreating) files? Were you alone in your experience or was this one of the notorious wide scale infestations? These deliberate acts of sabotage could easily end up squandering several megamanhours, even if the concomitant damage doesn’t result in any crashed aircraft or botched surgeries. These destructive and dangerous programs are launched intentionally for purposes of enrichment, amusement, and self-aggrandizement.
I’d say “Hangin’s too quick fer ‘em” if I weren’t so tender-hearted.
It is for just such tricks that we want Ol’ Sparky at the ready.
Due process first, please.