G SPOT

By August 14, 2016G Spot, Opinion

The guilty and the innocent

PASALO

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

WE are all innocent in the beginning of time, no matter what religion says about original sin. Because innocence is a condition of not knowing, and we can only be guilty of an act when we know the difference of good and evil.

The book of Genesis speaks about a Tree of Knowledge which bore the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve ate in the Garden of Eden. They were forbidden by God to eat this fruit, which gave them the power to know good from evil, a power attributed to God. Was it wrong to have eaten the fruit that gave them awareness of what is good and evil? Would it have been better to obey and remain innocent?

Knowledge has its benefits, it also exacts its own price. To commit something you know to be evil, has its own price. Innocence, like ignorance of the law, excuses no one, either. Therefore, any person cannot exculpate himself, or claim victimhood, when he engages in any activity outside what is common for a normal person, such as being a user or a drug pusher.

But what about the truly innocent, the clueless, the ones who are living their lives normally, who are mistaken as users or tagged as drug pushers or vital witnesses to a crime, or just being present in the crossfire? They are dead, they are silent, they disappear. The innocents who live, they lose their homes, they lose their legitimate livelihood, in the community of the guilty.

Innocent

11 August 2016 11:57 a.m.

Is he here?

He was.

This morning.

They took him.

 

No, he is not here.

He is out, bathing in the sun.

He is out, bathing in the rain.

They set him free.

 

Yes, he is here.

In this precinct.

He escaped his body

to explain his innocence.

In front of the truly guilty.

 

In the presence of souls

who escaped their bodies

to explain their innocence, too.

In front of the truly guilty.

 

Five hundred souls, floating.

Filling out every space

in a room already full

of guilt, and the guilty.

 

A gathering, a communion.

An act of contrition.

A cry for justice.

For the living, for the dead.

 

A message, a plea.

For the unliving, and the undead.

And the truly guilty.

 

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments

Next Post