An Eternal Crime

In the movie “Life” Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence struggled with the fact of being condemned for life. They grew old, and they died. To most Americans who have committed certain mistakes and got caught and thrown behind bars, it is a similar experience. Whether they are in for life, or are out after satisfying their debts to society, convicts have often found themselves suffering the eternal nightmare of not being able to get employment and live a normal existence.

For those that are confined into prison for life, like Ray and Claude the characters in the film; whatever the cause, the severity, or even the baselessness of their cases; they must often resign to the fact that they are there for good, and they must settle with it. However, most offenders are usually liberated at a certain point. That’s where the eternal crime particularly takes hold. Once you were arrested, and you went to jail, it is like - life is over for you. You can’t vote; you can’t get a job; you cannot obtain financial aids for an education, and the list goes on. However, the worst part about it, the eternal crime against the offenders, is that they are not able to secure employment.

Recently, there has been a buzz about this issue. President Obama appears to have had it in the back of his mind to do something before the end of his term. He is talking about reform. He has commuted the sentences of a few nonviolent drug offenders that had been unfairly incarcerated for too long. And, he has even visited a federal prison setting as the only sitting president of the country to have done so. I praise the president. Further, Bill Clinton has confessed that his policies during his administration was wrong against criminal offenders. And, many Republicans are supporting Obama’s position, calling for reform in the justice system. Obama has defended his call for reform bluntly. He has declared, “Any system that allows us to turn a blind eye to hopelessness and despair – that’s not a justice system. It’s an injustice system.”

These two words - hopelessness and despair - bring me back to the film ‘Life’ again, where Ray and Claude are desperate for a way out to freedom that would never come. They are condemned for life. And, so are millions of our brothers and sisters out there who had served time behind bars for whatever reason, big or small. Whether it is a petty crime as shoplifting, or a serious act of murder, once somebody had been behind those bars, getting a serious or even a trashy job in these United States of America is next to impossible. Employers would not hire someone with a criminal past, whatever it had been. Whether a person has voluntarily admitted to his criminal past or not, it does not make a difference. He simply would not be hired once this background check had been conducted. Especially with the advent of the computer, the Internet, the social media and all, the bad history of a person is just a click away; plus, taking into consideration other discrimination factors.

One may judge, “well, the employers are right; the persons should not have committed any offense anyway.” But, remember! Jesus said that the person who had not sin should cast the first stone. And, nobody was worthy of doing so. We all should be able to discover some dirt in our closet past, as we may infer from President Obama., that the commuted prisoners had only succumbed to mistakes similar to his or ours. Then, why would we condemn the others for life? Why would we not allow them to live on?

When you take the mean of labor from a person, you just plainly take his life. That’s what we do when we don’t allow people who have been in jail to get a job. We literally murder them; and, with them all those depending on them, children, wives, husbands, and any others. And, with that, we are forcing them to live a permanent criminal life. If I may put it this way, the USA has ended up as a crime producer society in this circumstance. Those people who are not allowed to work, they must certainly have resorted to more crime. A man has to eat!

If Obama or anybody else wants to do some real justice, some real reform that would benefit these true helpless and desperate victims, and the American society at large, they must advocate laws that do not crucify the offenders after they have served their dues. They should not force the offenders to commit more crimes by being unable to secure normal and legal employments. As Obama mentioned, there should be measures in place to accommodate the individuals released from incarceration to reintegrate them in society. However, the Number One issue I advise the government to consider is to give those people back their lives by allowing them to be able to work to sustain themselves and their families, and not resort to criminal activities. We actually need legislation that bars employers from discriminating against people who had been in jail, at least for not-so-serious offences. 

By E.C. GRANMOUN
E.C. Granmoun is the Author of: "The Social Worker"  ebook, amazon.com

Connect with E.C. Granmoun Facebook/Twitter granmoun@hotmail.com

The Natural Controversy of Same Sex Marriage

There was a time when the man was the sole dominant face of society. Women and children were subordinate. Then, you had the wild animals, the plants, and the lifeless objects. Later, varieties of human kinds began to intermingle. Some groups overcame others and subjected them to servitude. And, the story of society has moved on. Recently, the Supreme Court of the United States passed a landmark ruling that made it legal all over the territories of the giant nation for people of the same sex to unite into marriage. As everyone may already know, this is only the advancement of the popular trend that through time has transformed this nation from the state of paternalism to a free and liberal society where individuals’ choices are respected, if they are not intruding on others.

In the history of this country, there are several such events to remember, such as Women’s suffrage, Slavery emancipation, Equal Rights, Abortion, and so forth. Those are issues of diversity that a majority of the citizenry had come to agreement that people should be allowed freedom to exercise; or, the highest court of the law has ruled so. Still, the recent gay marriage ruling that makes same sex marriage legal all over the United States is one of a kind. Most people do not have an issue with human rights or equal rights. Therefore, they would not make a big fuss over the liberation of people of same the same gender to marry. You find two major arguments against this. One, that I immediately neglect and would not even discuss it, is the religious opinion, that it is not the will of God for individuals of the same sex to marry. I don’t even want to go into this; for, I would have to satisfy a whole debate on the nature of God and religion in which I am not interested.

The second argument involves the ‘natural’ approach. Many very rational individuals who would not have a problem with the equal rights aspect of the ruling have remained very uncomfortable when contemplating nature and its predispositions of mankind. These would agree that the women, the Blacks, and everybody else should be free and enjoying the same rights as the white males. They may also accept the fact that due to certain constraints abortion may, in most cases, be justified.  However, they cannot reconcile with the fact that two individuals of the same gender would involve in sexual intercourse together. They see it as counter to nature. They argue that naturally there is the male and the female. Their sexual organs are naturally placed to fit their purposes. The human beings should not deviate from such a predisposition. And, to solidify and authenticate their arguments, they have raised the fact that we only conceive when we utilize the sexual organs as predisposed by nature.

Looking at this simplistically, one would almost empathize with the naturalist viewpoint. On the other hand however, there is a test that the above could never satisfy. It is the fact that the human being has never remained in synch with nature. In fact, society and civilization are almost directly the opposite of nature. In nature life was brute and short. In civilization, life is refined and sophisticated. The point is, the human being has never remained on course with nature, but has traced his own route in the wilderness of nature to better his own existence. If we could agree to this, and we must agree; we could never force anybody to live according to the laws of nature simply because their ways are not to our taste.

The human being departed early from the course of nature. The man realized if he did not move away from the rudiment of nature to build his own suitable and enjoyable existence, he would not last but very shortly. He went against nature, moving from an isolated and lonely existence, forming social entities, building defensive structures, and organizing and planning to cohabit with nature’s savagery. Today, the days of the man are long, prosperous, and enjoyable. He is in fact ready to lead the most formidable battle with the savage nature. And, he would not allow anybody to push him back into the natural state. Should not the naturalist allow the gay man and woman the liberty to also enjoy his or her life according to the freedom of society?

The Supreme Court ruling has enforced just that. Gay people have the rights to redefine their lives from the rudimentary nature just like anybody else. Of course nature may have destined the sex organs, in some aspects, for reproduction. But, the gay human being may have come to view reproduction very differently from nature. Hence, he may choose to alter it, to alter its usage to fit his new consciousness. You and I may not be in that state of mine. But, who are we to say that the other person is wrong? Should we also say that the human being had to still be living in caves and huts? Should we say that a woman should still be condemned to conceive twelve children? I don’t think so. Then, let us all agree that the human being remains free to experience with nature the best way enjoyable to him.

 I don’t think I would offend anybody either if I try a little prediction. I don’t even want to mention marijuana. Most places are already taking some type of approach at legalization of it. It should not be too long before this highly preferred ‘buzz’ is considered just like alcohol all over the United States. Do you see another one? What about prostitution? They have claimed that it is one of the oldest ventures. Could you foresee the man and the woman free to liquidate this prize of theirs on the corner or all over the social media? The last may appear at first upsetting to many. But, don’t be! This should be considered as one of the most ancient practices of man as well. Some people have translated the version of Eve and Satan in the Garden of Eden as a seduction of the woman by the snake. This is radical. Yet, I believe that one of the big contests that we may undergo during our days is the liberation of sexual intercourse between humans and animals.

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By E.C. GRANMOUN
E.C. Granmoun is the Author of: "The Social Worker"  ebook, amazon.com

Connect with E.C. Granmoun Facebook/Twitter granmoun@hotmail.com