54. Condemned to Death at 23

 “Genesis” Acrylic on Rosaspina 15x25 cm
No Life is ours to Take

Afghanistan has condemned to death one of its young students for divulging on internet that the Koran is not against women. I can’t see anything offensive in that, in fact, the Afghanistan guerrillas were the first to claim they were not responsible for the killing of Benazir Bhutto because they would not inflict on women or children. Therefore, if the guerrillas, who are imbedded in the Koran, have respect for women and children, it is obvious that they learnt that from the Koran itself as that is their greatest tutor in life.

I don’t really want to get involved with religion because I know nothing about the Koran but I gather it is treated as we treat our bible but we certainly don’t go round killing people if someone says Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. If that were the case then we would have to hang draw and quarter all those involved in the De Vinci Code. Indeed, some just took it with a pinch of salt, some got angry, some laughed at the absurdities and some ignored it- but no one killed anyone.

But what was so atrocious that this young student said that could be worse than saying (for us) that Jesus was married? Catholics didn’t go round killing the authors and troops of that (for us) infamous film- but saying what even the guerrilla is saying and condemning this their own citizen, flesh of their own flesh to death, means to me simply crawling in the gutter.

Should this young man ever lose his life in this way he will always be remembered, especially by me, as someone who tried to make this world a little better to live in but was deprived of doing so by the cruelty and ignorance of his own kind.

However, I am a great believer in the mercy and greatness of those men who have been given the gift of enlightenment by their Creator and this young life will not be wasted.