One of the gifts my parents gave me was the fact that they meant what they said. When they said bring up your grades or you'll be punished, they meant it. I didn't bring up my History grade, and so I was punished. When they said "I love you," I knew they meant it.
Stephen Colbert says that he won't let his kids watch his show so that when he tells them that he loves them, they won't think he's being sarcastic. (See
this interview at 3 minutes in.) To me, it's the same principle, and it's a very important gift to give your children.
As an adult, I want people to mean what they say. I use sarcasm sometimes, and I may even fall back on it too often, but I hope that the people in my life believe me when I say the important, and even not too important things.
I want justice to be upheld. I want to know that the law has power. I want to know that the justice system will work for me, my parents, my sisters, my future children, and everyone I love. I want to know that when a law, and its corresponding punishment, is written, voted on, and enacted, it has power. It means what it says.
"Here is what you should do.
Here is what will happen if you don't."
"Here is what you should not do.
Here is what will happen if you do."
This is why I believe that those that ordered, authorized, and justified torture should be investigated, prosecuted, and punished if found guilty.
Because if those laws, agreements, conventions, and standards of decency do not mean what they say for those at the highest levels of our government and military, then they have no meaning for the rest of us.
And I am not OK with that.
(To say nothing of the fact that I am not OK with torture at all. )
I want to live in a country in which it is possible to be an idealist, and not to have to resort to defeatism and disillusionment.
