What is the true meaning of life

Is it measured by how smart you are

How much money you make

How much influence you have

Is one life more valued than another

The justice system states that no life is held above another

So why

If one has taken a life under the pretense of anything other than self defense

Be allowed to continue to live

Breath

Feel

While the life equal to theirs

Snuffed out by their own hand

No longer able to have those daily pleasures

Because of the cruel hands of another

Why should this guilty murderer

The proven taker of another life be allowed to continue on

If the murderers life is truly of equal value to that of the taken

Then why should they be able to live

Because life even behind a fenced in courtyard

Even behind concrete walls enforced with steel bar

Even in a six by six cell is still life

How is it equal for a murderer

Even if they live out their full sentence

To walk away to live another full day

They can still feel the touch of the one they love

They can still experience the exhaustion of a full day's work

They can still eat their fill

They will wake up every day and maybe

Just maybe the life they took will stay with them until they end

But they still have the choice to live how they want

If their life was truly equal to the life of the taken

Then they should also no longer be given the simple pleasure that comes from living

No matter what you call it

Capital punishment

Execution

The death penalty

It is a life for a life