I've just finished reading Dostoevsky's masterpiece. I found it fascinating although I did not agree with all his conclusions. I was surprised that Raskolnikov did not get the death penalty back in the 1800's. Eight years in Siberia did not seem quite justice, but then I did not know what Siberia is like, until tonight. I went to BBC iplayer to see if there were programmes about Russia and discovered one about prison life out in the wilds of Russia, probably Siberia, the exact location was not revealed. It was a fascinating programme and tied in nicely with what i had read in the classic. It always seems to me that the prison warders are also given a sentence although,of course, they clock off duty and go home to their families. However, perhaps the whole family is kind of serving a sentence. Raskolnikov speaks of the woman he murdered as being a "louse." None of us has the right to judge another in that way. From such thoughts come the actions of Hitler in killing Jewish people. Maybe he read Dostoevsky!
I have written in previous posts about disasters. In the case of Concorde, decisions by people, plus other factors were directly to blame for the event. In the case of the Penlee disaster it may have been avoided if someone had made a better choice in the time beforehand and as a consequence brave men and the ship's crew and the captain and his family died. 9/11 was certainly the result of wicked men committing a terrorist act, but even in this there was heroism notably by another Cornish man, Rick Rescorla who helped many to safety and left it too late to help himself. In situations like this we see what the human spirit is capable of both good and evil. What of disasters that come on people because of the earth restless movement of tectonic plates. Often people live near volcanoes because the land is rich and fertile and they have the chance of a better life there when the volcano is resting. We cannot blame them for that but sometimes people become complacent...
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