Closing the Book

Life is precious. It is all too often fleeting. None of us knows for sure what happens when our life ends. Will there be an after-life, and if there is, based upon the life we have led will we go to heaven, or will we go to hell?

Many of us do not appreciate the value of life. We live recklessly. Dangerously. Carelessly. We take chances with our health and our safety; we hurt other people. We think we are invincible, especially when we are young. We often do things that are wrong, perhaps because we don’t realize they are wrong, perhaps because we don’t think about what we are doing, or maybe we believe we can undo it later on. But sometimes the things we do can’t be fixed.

We gamble, and sometimes we lose.

So it was with Stanley “Tookie” Williams. He chose a life of violence and brutality. He chose to kill, and to take the lives of people there was no reason to kill. And for what: For mere pennies.

Maybe he didn’t think about the consequences of his actions, or maybe he thought he wouldn’t be caught. But he screwed up: He committed horrible crimes, and he did get caught.

After he was tried, convicted and sentenced to death for his crimes, maybe he thought he could buy his way out. Maybe he thought a few books talking kids out of gang life would do the trick. If so, he was wrong.

He gambled, and lost.

Stanley Williams wasn’t insane, although what he did was crazy and brutal.

Stanley Williams wasn’t stupid, although what he did was mindless and cruel.

Stanley Williams was just mean and evil. During the 26 years he was on death row, he couldn’t prove his innocence; he couldn’t buy his way out of the mess he’d gotten himself into with a few children’s books that hardly any kids read.

He gambled, and lost.

Stanley Williams remained a vile, vicious creature until the day he died. He didn’t appreciate life, and that failure ultimately cost him his own life.

There was very little of value in Stanley Williams’ life. If there is any good to come from this despicable individual, it will be if some young punk knows about what he did and what it earned him, and decides to travel a different path.