Parkland killer of 17 gets life in prison, jury refuses the death penalty, families of the dead will pay for his upkeep. Do you not feel that premeditated murder causes a great unfairness, an imbalance, a disruption in the natural order of things? If you believe we are created in God’s image, you do. If you believe we are just intelligent animals, no problem.

We indicate our evaluation of something by what we do when it is stolen or destroyed. If I shoplift a pair of socks, at most I get probation. But if I steal a car, I probably get jail time. A car is worth more than socks. But what about a human life? How do we indicate its value? If Bernie Madoff gets as much prison time for stealing money as a killer gets for premeditated murder, what are we telling the world? And if Madoff gets a longer sentence, what are we teaching our children?

What we do in private is between us and the other person. But what we do in public has teaching value. When we allow murderers to live, and even release them, we are teaching the young and impressionable that we value human life no more highly than we value money. Is that the lesson we really want to teach?