I know bad things happen. They happen to good people and to bad people. I also know that the human race is imperfect. No claim to perfection can be given credence by clear-thinking people.

Not one elected official, not one city or county employee, not any branch of any governmental organization has risen to perfection. Diligence is required to nudge the process more closely toward the right and just.

Lately, I am hearing calls for the death penalty to be reinstated in Maine. That is a bad idea. The death penalty in Maine was taken away because a mistake was made, at least once, and an innocent man was executed.

I would need to be a lot more certain that such an error could never be repeated before I would agree that Maine should reinstate the death penalty.

Mankind is imperfect. People sometimes forget that we are imperfect. Frequently, we are instructed in our area of need by a higher power.

Until there is no more need for instruction, those who advocate for men to choose who should live and who should die think far too highly of themselves and far too little of their God.

Thomas Shannon, Lewiston