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Life imprisonment can be imposed as an alternative to capital punishment. It is reserved for serious violent felonies, such as murder. A person who is sentenced to life without parole will, in most cases, never leave a penitentiary alive. In some countries there is a maximum limit of imprisonment time per crime committed. However, they could add up to a number that would virtually translate to a life sentence.

Due to flaws in the justice system, a life sentence is preferred over the death penalty. This preserves the possibility of appealing the decision in court. It is not uncommon for a person to be wrongfully convicted, sometimes taking decades for the truth to come through. In such cases, if the execution was carried out prior to the conviction being overturned, there is nothing that the justice system could do to repair its mistake.

Whether a sentence is capital punishment or life without parole is determined at trial according to the governing laws. Hence, a convict can’t choose one or the other. Convicts also can’t choose which penitentiary will house them. The only thing that they can decide, in some jurisdictions, is the method of execution for the death sentence.

The human brain is the most complex organ, responsible for thought, memory, emotions, vision, motor skills. The brain alone consumes about 20% of the entire body’s energy. Still, much about the brain's inner workings remains unknown. However, it is known that it is there where consciousness resides. Even if a person is completely paralyzed, is missing a limb or has non-functional kidneys or lungs, this person would still be able to rationalize, have emotions, imagine things and even communicate.

It seems the body is constructed around supporting the brain’s existence. Many body parts are expendable, but not the brain. When it stops functioning, life ceases. There are cases where a person’s heart is still pumping, however this person may be declared dead based on neurological criteria, or brain death. It can be understood, then, that the body serves primarily as a vessel for the conscious individual residing within it.

Just as a felon may be sentenced to life in a penitentiary, every individual is sentenced to life in a body. Individuals have no choice over their holding cell. Some people are given a cell without windows, so they will never be able to see the light. Some people are given an anechoic chamber for a cell, so they will never be able to hear their own voice. Some people are given a cell with a ceiling so short that they will never be able to stand up. Some people are given a cell covered with mirrors, so they are never at ease. There is not even a choice to name this cell.

The lack of control over the conditions of one's incarceration can be profoundly unsettling. This leaves the entire burden of perseverance on the convict. From this perspective, death row could become a motivational prospect, creating a form of hope amid the endless monotony of a perpetual lethargic daily routine. Thus, execution appears to be the only escape from a life sentence.

Individuals can rehabilitate while serving their sentences. In some jurisdictions, convicts can apply to change their sentence from life to fixed term. This way these individuals could be freed by proving that they are changed and ready to be reintegrated to society. Essentially, freedom is given to a new individual, since the one that was convicted in the first place doesn’t exist anymore. From this perspective, the executioner and the executed become the same individual.

Therefore, a convicted individual could finally experience freedom again.

Breaking free from the steel bars only to be caged again in those made of flesh.

“If anyone kills another human being, he must be put to death.“ (Leviticus 24:17 NIRV).

This Bible verse reflects a part of the justice system instituted in many countries, such as the US, China and Singapore. Capital punishment or death sentence is sanctioned and conducted by the government as punishment for crime committed. The crime that leads to this sentence can vary a lot, being murder one of them.

Analysing the first sentence of the verse above, it is understood that “anyone” is the active party and “human being” is the passive party. For the second sentence, “he”, referring to the first sentence’s “anyone”, is now the passive party, which “must be put to death”. However, there is no active party in this case. Hence, the action must be done by a non-existing being.

Organizations such as governments, unions, corporations, associations are what constitutes a society. Even when the verse above was written, organizations existed in the form of tribal councils, usually formed by village elders. They would conduct trials for crimes committed, similarly to what happens in courts nowadays. All organizations have one thing in common: they are composed of multiple individuals, a collective.

Transitioning from the individual to the collective, actions are diluted between the individuals. This way, no single individual is entirely responsible for an action. It can be thought of as the sea and a water droplet. A single water droplet is nothing compared to the sea. However, a sea is nothing but a collection of water droplets.

The sentence is not conducted by one person but rather by the organization. Even though, for example, an individual judge can decide a sentence, it will be based and backed by the law, the justice system and the government. Therefore, the missing active party which will perform the capital punishment is the organization.

In reality, the organization can’t execute a human being. It does not have a physical body to perform the punishment. An individual human being, which is part of this organization will have to conduct the execution. This means that, a human will ultimately inject the lethal injection, pull the handle to the electric chair or pull the trigger, hence putting an end to another human life. It can be inferred that the executioner is that “anyone” that “kills another human being”.

An executioner might find moral shelter within the collective, arguing that the execution was done by the organization. An executioner might even argue that if he/she didn’t do the job, another person would. This perspective can be expanded to warfare. Instructions coming from the army are passed to the field operation teams. Presidents and generals do not perform these operations, leaving the soldiers to conduct them. Veterans might find moral shelter the same way as executioners do, arguing that they did it for their country, that they were told what to do or that it was for a greater good.

Veterans have a much higher risk of suicide than civilians. There might be multiple reasons for it, but it can be assumed that guilt is one of them. Guilt does not affect the collective the same, as high ranking officials, such as judges, legislators, senators and generals are not as susceptible to mental health issues as veterans or executioners.

Ultimately, we have found a cozy way to have non-existing beings conducting death sentences. This way, that tiny guilt droplet can evaporate as quickly as we lay in bed for another night of peaceful sleep.

Life is a struggle. All known life has been struggling and continues to struggle to exist. Through natural selection, the best adapted, fit and evolved beings are able to pass on their existence through the next generation. Those who can’t keep up with the world, cease to exist.

Beneficial traits that allowed a being to thrive are passed onto the next generation via genetic material. Life has posed an infinity of methods for that to happen, but more closely understood by us is the genetic fusion of two beings, male and female. Many traits, such as skin color, height, body type are very easily carried over to the next generation. Parents can fathom how their kid will look: “Will the baby have daddy’s eyes and mommy’s hair?”.

However, the fact that we can carry over our genetic footprint should not be taken for granted. For many insects, such as bees, ants and wasps, not all individuals can actually generate new life. In a bee colony, there are three types of bees: worker bees, drones and queen bees. Queen bees will mate once with drones and then lay eggs for the rest of their lives. Worker bees do not have any reproductive system and will never be able to pass on their genes.

Even if a worker bee has a beneficial trait, it could never be passed onto the next generation of bees. It will cease to exist along with this worker bee. It can be said that many of us might also feel like a worker bee. A lot of couples struggle to conceive children, resorting to modern medical procedures to succeed. And, for others, it might just be impossible. The thought that all achievements, stories, memories of a lifetime and the self will be lost without the next generation to safeguard them, can be despairing for anyone.

Individualistic centric humans that we are, focus on the individual and what one can achieve to advance the entire humankind. We have names, surnames and even nicknames, assuring that each of us really is a living self-contained entity. Worker bees do not have names. It can only be speculated whether they also reflect on these issues or not. But if they do, they might see their life as meaningless since as an individual nameless worker bee, nothing can be achieved and all will be lost in the end anyway. Nevertheless, they go on about their work, granting not just the hive but also many other beings, including us, survival.

Worker bees are responsible for pretty much everything in a colony: nursing the young, foraging for pollen and nectar, maintaining the hive structure and temperature and defending the colony. However, if it were not for the drone and queen bee, there wouldn’t be new bees, putting an end to the colony. There is an intrinsic interdependency in the three bee types. It can be hypothesized that they might even constitute a composite life. In this perspective, the colony is the individual self-contained living entity.

We can transfer this perspective to ourselves. For the ones that will not bear children, do not despair. As a worker bee, we all play a part in the struggle for existence that we call life.

How was it today?
Did you accomplish something? Did you have a bad day?
Was it a significant one? Perhaps, was it your birthday?
A day, 24 hours. But what does that mean?
With the world’s average life expectancy at 73 years, that means you will probably have about 26 thousand of those days in your life.

Can you count to 26 thousand? Can you imagine a book with 26 thousand pages?
It sounds pretty long if you ask me. Do all these days have the same weight to them? Do they all feel like the same length?

I believe I know your answer, no. They don’t feel like they have the same length. Probably, you would say that the days when you’re younger were the longest and they feel shorter and shorter with age. Why is that?
Some may say because life becomes stable, routine takes over. It might as well be it. It also seems that we have fewer new experiences as time goes by. Same job, same people, same hobbies, same house and so on. It is usually up to destiny to throw something new at us, to shake us up from the suburban slumber.

Are we doing something wrong? No, it is the way we were evolved to be. Getting used to things by remembering past experiences. It is a double edged sword. It can help us to do tasks with excellence such as coding or drawing and to cope with tragedy, loss and grief. But it also makes things bland, gray, dull and numb. There is a saying “short and sweet”. It might be that if it was not short we wouldn’t feel as sweet anymore.

26 thousand days put into another perspective, a house fly lives for about 15 days. For a fly, our lifetime would be like 100 thousand years. Different branches of human ancestors, such as the Neanderthals were still roaming the Earth 100 thousand years ago. From this perspective, we live what feels like an eternal life. It might be that for the house fly, 15 days feels just like 73 years for us. Maybe, it also gets bored of the food or it doesn’t get as excited anymore when it barely misses the swatter by the 8th or 10th day.

Let’s imagine that we actually live eternal lives. That may be whatever way, heaven and hell, roaming around as spirits or locked into an endless cycle of reincarnations. From this perspective, in the long run, heaven and hell wouldn’t be any different. In hell, we would get used to the suffering, meaning we wouldn’t suffer anymore. In heaven, we would get used to the bliss, meaning we wouldn’t enjoy it anymore at some point. If we consider the possibility of reincarnations, it would be the most enjoyable as, in general, we wouldn’t remember what went on in the past life. Starting anew, with the chance to suffer and enjoy life to its fullest. Until time passes and we get used to things again. I feel exhausted just thinking about it. Going through school, finding out that Santa isn’t real, getting my first job all over again.

So I guess that’s it, in summary we are doomed. But are we?
With the current perspective, yes. However, it can be understood from the previous paragraphs that the most important thing is not lifetime, in terms of years or days, but how we perceive it. How we perceive time and all that surrounds us.

What would you do if you only had one day to live?
What would you do if you would live forever?
Which question is more exciting? Which question do you have an answer to?
Probably the first. So, how was it today?