Helen Prejean: We are not the worst moments of our lives. Sister Helen...

people are more than the worst thing they have ever done in their lives

Helen Prejean

worst done people

In sorting out my feelings and beliefs, there is, however, one piece of moral ground of which I am absolutely certain: if I were to be murdered I would not want my murderer executed. I would not want my death avenged. Especially by government--which can't be trusted to control its own bureaucrats or collect taxes equitably or fill a pothole, much less decide which of its citizens to kill.

Helen Prejean

sorting-out government feelings

If we believe that murder is wrong and not admissible in our society, then it has to be wrong for everyone, not just individuals but governments as well.

Helen Prejean

punishment government believe

I saw the suffering and I let myself feel it… I saw the injustice and was compelled to do something about it. I changed from being a nun who only prayed for the suffering world to a woman with my sleeves rolled up, living my prayer.

Helen Prejean

suffering prayer world

The death penalty is a poor person's issue. Always remember that: after all the rhetoric that goes on in the legislative assemblies, in the end, when the deck is cast out, it is the poor who are selected to die in this country.

Helen Prejean

issues goes-on country

If you are going to do something for the poor, the abused, or the imprisoned, above all be faithful. People with broken lives often come from lives with broken promises.

Helen Prejean

faithful broken people

Do they deserve to die?" but "Do we deserve to kill them?

Helen Prejean

death-penalty dies deserve

The movement to abolish the death penalty needs the religious community because the heart of religion is about compassion, human rights, and the indivisible dignity of each human person made in the image of God.

Helen Prejean

compassion religious heart

I realize that I cannot stand by silently as my government executes its citizens. If I do not speak out and resist, I am an accomplice.

Helen Prejean

speaks-out citizens government

When people of color are killed in the inner city, when homeless people are killed, when the "nobodies" are killed, district attorneys do not seek to avenge their deaths. Black, Hispanic, or poor families who have a loved one murdered not only don't expect the district attorney's office to pursue the death penalty -which, of course, is both costly and time consuming- but are surprised when the case is prosecuted at all.

Helen Prejean

color office cities

Government ... can't be trusted to control its own bureaucrats or collect taxes equitably or fill a pothole, much less decide which of its citizens to kill.

Helen Prejean

death-penalty citizens government

The important thing is that when your come to understand something you act on it, no matter how small that act is. Eventually it will take you where you need to go.

Helen Prejean

fitness-motivational important needs

I keep thinking of the gifts of my own upbringing, which I once took for granted: I can read any book I choose and comprehend it. I can write a complete sentence and punctuate it correctly. If I need help, I can call on judges, attorneys, educators, ministers. I wonder what I would be like if I had grown up without such protections and supports. What cracks would have turned up in my character?

Helen Prejean

writing character book

Lavish love on others receive it gratefully when it come to you. Cultivate friendship like a garden. It is the best love of all.

Helen Prejean

best-love garden love

Writing is like praying, because you stop all other activities, descend into silence, and listen patiently to the depths of your soul, waiting for true words to come. When they do, you thank God because you know the words are a gift, and you write them down as honestly and cleanly as you can.

Helen Prejean

silence waiting writing

There are spaces of sorrow only God can touch.

Helen Prejean

space sorrow

Once you inject fear into a society of people, they become more and more afraid because they don't cross over the neighbourhoods and the only information they get about other people is through the media.

Helen Prejean

media fear people

When you try, God is there and you get the grace you need to get you through.

Helen Prejean

grace trying needs

Mercy is "stronger and more God-like than vengeance".

Helen Prejean

vengeance stronger mercy

I tell myself that I had simply better accept the fact that the death penalty is here to stay in our society, at least for a while, and there is nothing I can do about it. Maybe, in time- after how many executions? - people will come to realize the futility of randomly selecting a few people to die each year.

Helen Prejean

our-society people years

We are not the worst moments of our lives. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking.