A part of me says, "Fuck her, she didn't show Sharon Tate compassion."
Another part of me says, "Wait a minute--that doesn't mean the state shouldn't show compassion. The state isn't Susan Atkins, nor should it be placed on the same moral plane as her."
The second part is the larger.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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