On the Wrong List

What do you think that all of the following countries have in common?

Harboring terrorists? Radical Religious types? Champions of human rights? Just browse through this list. See if you can get a sense of what they all have in common. The answer which follows this list may surprise you.

AFGHANISTAN ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA BAHAMAS BAHRAIN BANGLADESH BARBADOS BELARUS BELIZE BOTSWANA BURUNDI CAMEROON CHAD CHINA COMOROS CONGO (Dem. Rep.) CUBA DOMINICA EGYPT EQUATORIAL GUINEA ERITREA ETHIOPIA GABON GHANA GUATEMALA GUINEA GUYANA INDIA INDONESIA IRAN IRAQ JAMAICA JAPAN JORDAN KAZAKSTAN KOREA (North) KOREA (South) KUWAIT KYRGYZSTAN LAOS

LEBANON LESOTHO LIBERIA LIBYA MALAWI MALAYSIA MONGOLIA MOROCCO MYANMAR NIGERIA OMAN PAKISTAN PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PHILIPPINES QATAR RWANDA SAINT CHRISTOPHER & NEVIS SAINT LUCIA SAINT VINCENT & GRENADINES SAUDI ARABIA SIERRA LEONE SINGAPORE SOMALIA SUDAN SWAZILAND SYRIA TAIWAN TAJIKISTAN TANZANIA THAILAND TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO UGANDA UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UZBEKISTAN VIET NAM YEMEN ZAMBIA ZIMBABWE

This is not an especially good list to be on. Let's add the one country that I purposely left off: THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

These are the countries that have the death penalty. That's what they all have in common. The USA is so sure that we represent the highest form of civil and human rights, and yet we have made this list. [Source]

I have to admit that in my past, my personal fears and frustrations made me a believer and supporter of the death penalty. Then, I was asked to serve in a jury pool. The crime was a murder with "special circumstances" for which the death penalty could be chosen by the jury.

They gave us a very long questionnaire in hopes of determining how we felt about the death penalty prior to being invited to serve on this jury. When it became clear that I was being asked to have a direct hand in the execution of another human being, I found that I could not do it. I was not asked to be on the jury and since then, I have been against the death penalty. I can not in good conscience support my country in the death penalty if I cannot do it myself.

I can kill, I can kill in defense of something of value such as other human lives. I don't have a moral problem with this. I'm sure that I wouldn't sleep well for a while, but I could do it. However the death penalty is not self-defense when you consider the fact that life in prison is an option.

Let's get off this list and on to the others that have come into the 21st century, shall we?