The November 30, 2009 Newsweek ended not with a bang, but with a sobering back story, entitled “What’s the Last Word in Capital Punishment?” (I had hoped to provide only a link, rather than recap the story, but can’t seem to find this on Newsweek‘s website). Against the backdrop of a syringe, this story displays the results of Ian Yarett’s textual analysis of last statements made by the 446 people executed in Texas since 1976. His analysis resulted in a list of the most frequently used words in “offenders’ ” last remarks. Here’s a glimpse of the top five:
- “Love” (630 times)
- “Thanks” (243 times)
- “Sorry” (211 times)
- “God” (175 times)
- “Lord” (130 times)
Of special interest to me was the large gap between the most commonly mentioned word (“love”) and the second most commonly used word (“thanks”) – a 61% difference.
This single page had more of an impact on me than the last thousand (of any publication) I have turned. There seems to me to be something sacred about what people say right before they die – criminal or not. And, Texas seems to agree. They’ve faithfully recorded every last statement and made them publicly available online, from 40 year-old Charlie Brooks jr who was executed in 1982 for kidnapping and killing a car salesman, to 34 year old Robert Thompson, executed just two weeks ago for robbing a convenience store and killing the store clerk.
These statements seem to prove Henry Drummond correct, when he reminded us that
“You will find, as you look back upon your life, that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.”
Then again, I cannot, somewhat cynically, resist from recalling one of Toni Morrison’s poignant lines:
“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.”
Indeed, it may be that language is the measure of our lives. Something to think about, eh?
If you’re interested in reading these last statements, you can do so at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice website.