I’m certain that we’ve all witnessed on TV or have read about it in our newspapers of those merciful, benevolent few who hold candlelight vigils outside of prisons praying for a person who is about to be executed.

As an individual who has seen and taken part in that legitimized manmade and religiously supported obscenity called "war," I have never seen a candlelight vigil for those who died in them.   I don’t know.  Am I missing something?

In any event, it leaves me to wonder, what motivates people who hold candlelight vigils for tried criminals about to be executed, yet are the first in line marching with flags in hand, commemorating with pride our wartime victories while patriotically memorializing all those who forfeited their lives in the process.   Are they commemorating with pride because our victories, along with all those who died, have given them the right to hold such candlelight vigils?   Or are those who are involved, though honest and moral, so devoid of human conscience, that no matter how heinous or brutal the crime, compassion and love must ultimately prevail over logic and expediency.  If such is the case, then we should all be holding day and night candlelight vigils in all memorial parks throughout the world and on every day of every year.

Hypothetically speaking, let us suppose for a moment that the entire world has abolished the death penalty and continuing on, let us also try to visualize what new forms of illogical or incomprehensible situations it might foster.   

Here’s one for the books.   It’s taking place right now in Armenia.   In the October 19, 2002 issue of TAR International, there was an article on page 1 "Nairi Hunanian Mastermind of Armenian Parliament Murders to Run for President of Armenia."   Can you believe it?   Here is a man by his own testimony and by a videotape of the actual crime viewed around the world -- a man who not only masterminded but who also participated in the mass murder of eight Armenian Parliament members on October 27, 1999, running for President of Armenia.   His trial, incidentally, is two years old and with all of the incontestable evidence, there seems to be no end in sight.   If Ripley had put this in his "Believe It or Not," people would say he was hallucinating.  Nonetheless, let’s take this abomination a little further.   Let us picture that by some abnormal or criminal circumstance, Nairi wins Armenia’s presidency; would this mean that executions would no longer be legal in Armenia but mass murders would?   Or just supposing, he turns out to  be a thorn in the side of Armenia’s leaders.  Does this mean he will accidentally trip and die of injuries in his cell like that guy did in the Yerevan restaurant bathroom a little while back?  Absurd?  No doubt.  But if all nations abolished executions, I would think that there would be a lot of people accidentally tripping and dying of injuries in bathrooms, massage parlors, or prison cells around the world.   

At this point, the reader must feel some of the frustrations I’ve been experiencing -- that is, until I came up with a plausible solution to this whole mess.   After reading it, I’m sure that the readers who are inclined to be either candlelight vigil keepers or capital punishment advocates, will both find a totally acceptable solution to this ongoing controversy.   

We will start by abolishing all forms of capital punishment ending in executions.   In its stead, we will offer the guilty offenders two options.   Option one would be a cyanide pill left in the detaining cell.   After the guilty verdict is handed down, the prisoner would return to his cell with the voluntary option to end his or her life.   

Option two would kick in if the prisoner were still alive the following morning.   Under this second option, he or she would be assigned to a luxury cell in a high-rise building with all of the amenities such as TV, air-conditioning, private bath, etc., etc.   By choosing this option, the prisoner would be voluntarily choosing to become an organ donor.  Not knowing how long it would take to use up a given donor’s organs, it would be hard for me to speculate how long it might extend such a prisoner’s life.  But whatever the length of time, the prisoner would be assured of as comfortable and as pleasant a life as conditions would allow.   

Think about it.   The choice on both sides would ultimately end in death, giving the capital punishment advocates their pound of flesh.  And as for the candlelight vigil keepers, they could blow out their candles and go home secure with the feeling that the ultimate choice was that of the criminal’s and not of the State’s.

Joseph Vosbikian