May 11, 2004

past catches up (again)

For me the whole situation sucks. Not a single positive thing about it as far as I can see.

I’ve told this story before, but I’ll recap. I had a girlfriend, we broke up. She got a new boyfriend, they showed up on my doorstep. He scared the crap out of me at first, but turned out to be a good friend. I got a girlfriend who joined the Air Force and I moved in with my ex and her boyfriend. All of us got along great and really, truly kept each other alive that winter. My ex made him an ex a while later. I married my girlfriend.

Now Jason is going to be spending the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole. I don’t think what he was convicted of should necessarily go without some for of punishment and maybe life in prison is that form. I was completely in shock when I first heard what he was being accused of. Then to find he was convicted in just an hour and half... It was a horrible crime, one of the worst kind. As I’m about to bring a new child into the world it seems unimaginably horrific.

This weekend Geshe Gyaltsen was at Vajrapani and he got several questions about having compassion for both the victim and the assailant. People were mostly referring to this Iraqi prison deal, but for me it’s now a little closer to home. It’s much easier for me to have compassion towards the perpetrator. I smoked a celebratory cigar with him after the birth of a different child and he was ecstatic. The kind of father you think of when you think of the delivery room. I know he mostly has a good heart and I know life will not be easy for him from now on.

Anyway, I read that news story and just teared up. For Tylin, for Kathy, for Jason. They are all victims. Everybody wants happiness, none of them want to suffer.

posted @ 7:06 AM

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