Crime and Punishment II - Sins

 The concept of "Sin" changes dramatically depending on whether we look at it through the lens of religion, philosophy or psychology. 

At its core, Sin is defined as a violation of a moral, spiritual or ethical code. 

I would categorize sins and tank them based on how deeply they violate the autonomy of others and oneself. I would scale it in the order of external destruction to internal decay. 

The ultimate violation

Murder is the absolute top sin. It is the ultimate, irreversible sin because it completely eliminates the other person's existence and future. 

Physical and Sexual violence are the next, while the victim survives, their bodily autonomy and sense of safety are deeply violated, leaving permanent trauma. 

The manipulation matrix (Abuse of Trust, Theft, Psychological/Verbal/Financial abuse) 

Invisible Harm: People can be systematically destroyed without physical weapons by greed, verbal, theft/robbery, financial and psychological abuse and violation of trust. The invisible harm caused by lying, manipulating, cheating, financial abuse deliberately creating scenarios to cause extreme distress to others. Gaslighting and psychological warfare can hollow out a person's sanity. 

Betrayal Factor: Abusing trust weaponizes a person's vulnerability against them. It is an insidious form of harm because it forces the victim to question their own judgement. The betrayal trauma is very real and not only does a person suffer the consequences from the betrayal but also are unable to move forward because of the trauma. 

Sins of Self destruction (Vices like Gluttony, Drugs, Alcohol addiction)

Traditional religious system often treat drugs, alcohol, sexual over indulgence as massive crimes against a deity. They are in fact tragedies of self destruction. They are harmful because they burn down the user's own life, mind, health and potential. Unless these vices bleed into harming others, they are tragedies and battles of self destruction and personal vices not crimes or malice against society. 

Sins of the mind (Pride, Envy, Jealousy, Sloth, Greed (Avarice), Wrath (Anger)) 

The sins of the mind such as pride, envy, jealousy are at the bottom as long as they stay locked in a person's mind. Traditional frameworks like the seven deadly sins/ Capital vices (popularized by Dante's Inferno) are not specific actions but rather seven root behaviors and psychological traps that lead to other immoral deeds. 

Pride: An excessive, inflated belief in one's own abilities and lack of humility. 

Greed (Avarice): An intense, insatiable desire for wealth, power and material possessions.

Lust: An intense, uncontrolled sexual desire or objectification of others. 

Envy: A deep resentment and jealousy towards the traits, status or possessions of someone else.

Gluttony: Over indulgence and over consumption of anything to the point of waste. 

Wrath: Uncontrolled, self destructive anger and a desire for vengeance. 

Sloth: Spiritual, mental or physical laziness, a refusal to act or care about your responsibilities. 

If someone is sitting quietly in their homes feeling incredibly arrogant, jealous, bitter, angry etc, they are not hurting anyone but themselves. Those thoughts only become a true crime when they motivate someone to cross the line into harming others. 

It is important that while following the law in both letter and in spirit, we don't just accept the legal and traditional structures of what is "right" or "fair" but use logic and empathy and a strong code of personal ethics to live our lives.

Crime and Punishment I

 " There is no worse prison than that of a remorseful mind"

One of the philosophical perspectives on the true purpose of the justice system is that, in a civilized society, the intent of justice system is not to punish the perpetrator but to reform them. 

The restorative justice and rehabilitation aspect is that once a person is truly broken by remorse, locking them away for decades in a cage doesn't fix the tragedy. The psychological weight of remorse and regret is something a cell can never replicate. If a person has conscience, the guilt of what they did is a life sentence anyway. 

The punishment for a crime can consider the act of crime, the value of loss suffered by the victim, the intent and motive behind the crime. However, the overall principle that guides the sentencing should be one that promotes reformation and rehabilitation. 

I do not like the concept of general deterrence, i think it is highly flawed and how the courts use high profile defendants to send a terrifying message to the public that no matter how rich, powerful, upstanding a person was before they committed the crime, they will be punished. The punishment should always be proportionate to the crime not to reflect general deterrence. 

I believe the system should work purely on the model with the motive of reformation and rehabilitation. The way to deter crimes is by building a conscience and helping people appreciate and cherish the conscience that we all have inbuilt within us rather than forcing deterrence with severe punishments. 

The very core of crime is the corruption of the soul. 

When we harm others, the act not only hurts others but destroys the precious innocence and conscient that is ingrained and built in ourselves.

 It isn't just about following the laws of the land or fearing a prison cell, it is about protecting the precious inner sanctuary of our conscience. Nothing is worth shattering our inner peace, innocence and humanity. Once that is breached by an act of killing, no amount of money, status or legal freedom can ever truly patch it back together. 

In conclusion, if the justice system prioritizes the protection of human innocence and conscience over archaic rules, justice would look a lot cleaner and a lot fairer.

Tutoring experience - Part 2

 I recently started tutoring a kid and I have to say that while it is rewarding and delightful to be imparting knowledge to the kid, it is also very frustrating and trying. 

I met a retired school principal and we were discussing teaching experiences. He told me that he avoided teaching kids who were not interested in studying. He explained that while some kids have the intelligence to study and understand, lack the interest. Such kids would find it hard to pay attention despite the teacher's efforts. You can try imparting knowledge with physical models, videos that are educational and entertaining but they would watch it for the entertainment and not be interested in studying. He further explained that one of the reasons is the lack of initiative and discipline from the parents. They discover that the kid is not doing well in school, hire a part time tutor and expect the tutor to ensure the kid does the schoolwork and pass on the responsibility of education to the tutor. 

Unfortunately, the kid I tutor fell into this category. She is intelligent and capable of understanding. However, she has not been disciplined to study or pay attention to studies by her parents. As a result, she finds it difficult to learn subjects she thinks are boring, questions the need for education and hard work, while studying subjects that she finds easy and not attempt to solve math problems which she thinks are hard. 

It is very frustrating to teach such kids. Her father said that he tried to teach her but gave up when she would not listen to him. She would wake up on time for school, but would sleep until 11 am during the weekends, would not study and play or watch tv at home. Her mom tried to teach her while doing the household chores and working a full time job. Her dad called me for tutoring and explained that he wanted to hire a tutor to see if the kid would study and listen to a person who is not part of their family. 

Over the course of a few months, I have seen reasonable progress with the kid. She is now capable of reading while she could not read prior to tutoring. I was very pleased to be able to help the kid with reading and solving math problems. I have tried to make her learning experience enjoyable by including videos and visual aids. I keep changing the mode of teaching and coming up with different solutions to keep her engaged and adjust my methods to suit the attention span of the kid. 

It has been an interesting journey and I have learned a lot about myself during this journey. My patience has improved, I am getting better at handling situations when the kid gets disinterested and obstinate, coming up with solutions to gain the attention and methods to improve the reading and comprehensive skills of the kid. I would say that while teaching is a rewarding experience, it is important that the kid is interested in gaining knowledge and that would make it an enjoyable experience for both the tutor and the kid.

Tutoring experience - Part 1

 

I am tutoring a kid part time. She is a 9 year old, fourth grade student. I am in between jobs and thought tutoring might better way to spend time usefully. I also thought I might enjoy getting to interact with a kid.

The experience has been a mix of several emotions. Rewarding when I could see the progress made, joyful and grateful that I have been blessed with a mind that can retain and recall knowledge and education I gained decades before, frustrating when I had to repeat the same concepts over and over and sad when the kid shows no interest in gaining knowledge even though she is blessed with a good brain and intelligence. 

What I mainly felt after I started to tutor was the thankfulness and gratefulness for my teachers who taught me all the subjects since I was a kid through my school, high school and post graduate degree. Curiously I am not grateful for my teachers in college. I marvel at their patience to repeat the same thing over and over for an entire 45- minute period until the subject gets drilled into my mind. I am amazed that they were able to stand the entire day with very little breaks or water. I admire their stamina and perseverance not to give up on this lovely, blessed profession. 

I was a teacher's pet at school. Education was easy to me. I learned my letters and numbers at home as my mom always points out proudly. She taught me my languages and arithmetic at home even before I was formally enrolled at school. My dad taught me math at home from sixth grade until I finished high school. I was always a few chapters ahead of the math topics that was being taught at school because my dad would have already taught it to me at home. I would follow along and gain a deeper understanding and love for solving the problems when my teacher taught it at school. While my mom was very strict, I now look back with wisdom over decades of life's experience at what a wonderful mother she has been and how she was wholly responsible for my interest in education and cultivating my thirst for knowledge. She is not without faults and at times, her strictness and pestering were complete torture. While her methods were not always pleasant, I can see how she never gave up on me and always ensured my education was her number one priority. 

My teachers and principal at school loved teaching me. I was one of the students in every grade who made their profession enjoyable. Many would call my name out or express their delight in teaching me. One of the teachers was almost like a sister to me and remembered my birthdays, she never gave up on my abilities, never doubted me and always encouraged me and prayed for me. For her, I would be eternally grateful. I remember misogynistic attitude of some boys at school who said girls in general and I, in particular would memorize the text and reproduced it in exams. My biology teacher schooled them in the best possible way, subtly highlighting their own jealousy while praising me and encouraging the boys and explaining how their thinking was flawed and what they could do to improve their knowledge and scores. 

The tutoring experience brought back my childhood memories when I discovered joy for reading, a thirst for knowledge, my intelligence and capabilities to remember and recall exact texts, my love for illustrations and drawing, my favorite subjects. I particularly enjoyed languages, math, chemical equations, biology and learning about human body and systems and geography. The overall feeling is bliss and eternal gratitude for the world is full of knowledge waiting to discover.