Gould & Guilt

“No one respects the law…no one respects the courts…the courts don’t respect themselves.”  This sad verdict on justice was handed down by a journalist in the 1880s.  Things haven’t changed much since then.  It was widely believed in the Old West that men such as corrupt railroad mogul Jay Gould controlled the courts.  It was said of him that he could commit a murder without fear of arrest or conviction.  Gould’s actions were not unusual, large corporations tampered openly with the courts, paying off judges and juries alike and never feeling the slightest twinge of shame or guilt.  For men like Gould guilt was simply God’s way of letting them know they were having too good a time.  I unfortunately know too many people that think like Mr. Gould did.  People for whom in the elaborate wardrobe of human emotions, guilt is the itchy wool turtleneck that’s three sizes too small. Guilt is difficult to articulate.  For some guilt is the pledge drive constantly hammering in our heads that keeps us from fully enjoying the show.  Guilt is the reason they put the articles in Playboy.  Some experience guilt as the voice of their better natures, while for others, it’s the voice of an authority figure like a parent or a teacher.  There are some people so predisposed to guilt (and I believe I fall into that category) that when they’re born, the first thing that comes out of their mouth after being slapped by the doctor is “Harder! Harder!”  Women like Gould helped take my brother’s life.  They are murderers who walked across the street to have pizza once the job was done.  I don’t have to wonder if they will remember what they did when they pass by his gravesite at the cemetery.  They won’t.  Of course they won’t have to imagine what it will be like to be in paradise someday singing praises to the Most High.  They won’t be there to enjoy it any more than Gould is there now.  It’s hard to know how many lives Jay Gould ruin because he bought judges and juries in order to make a case go his way.  For a while he was the power behind the throne of justice.  As Collis P. Huntington (another Old West railroad boss) once said “if you pay money to have the right thing done, it is only just and fair to do it.”  If I had the kind of coin Gould possessed and I could purchase guilt, I would shower my brother’s accusers with so much guilt they’d drown in it.  For now I guess I’ll just have to look forward to the day they final understand what the word retribution mean.  As for Gould, he died of tuberculosis on December 2, 1892.  His fortune was conservatively estimated to be $72 million.  I’m sure all the money was made legitimately too.