February 18th, 2010

There are days when I am keenly aware that even if my brother lives to be released from federal prison he will never be the same again. A fire has swept through his life and there is nothing left now but the shell of the man that once was. It’s a hurt from which I believe I will never fully recover. I ask God everyday to help. I want to forgive. I cannot understand why it is so impossible for so many to have glossed over the true bad guy in this scenario. John Steinbeck said it best in East of Eden “Just as there are physical monsters,” Steinbeck asks, “can there not be mental monsters born with face and body perfect? If a twisted gene or a malformed egg can produce a physical monster, may not the same process produce a malformed soul?” There were a lot of malformed souls in the Old West – for example: On this day in 1878 the Murphy-Dolan faction murdered the benevolent John Tunstall outside of Lincoln New Mexico. A bloody power struggle called the “Lincoln County War: broke out following his death. It’s easy to hear about this crime and instantly think of Billy the Kid’s role in the war…glossing right over the ones that started the mess in the first place.