What I’ve Done?

In this farewell,
There's no blood,
There's no alibi.
'Cause I've drawn regret,
From the truth,
Of a thousand lies.
So let mercy come,
And wash away...

What I've Done.
I'll face myself,
To cross out what I've become.
Erase myself,
And let go of what I've done.

--Linkin Park/What I've Done

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In 1953, June 19, The Rosenbergs were executed via electrocution.

Julius and his wife Ethel were convicted of espionage, including spilling out sensitive information about atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.

The couple was implicated by Ethel’s own brother, who also admitted passing top secret information to the communist nation. He served in prison for ten years.

It is one of the most controversial events in the United States, gaining much media attention even after the sentence was served. First and foremost because they were Americans accused of espionage, second there was a hype of anti-communist feeling and the couples were members of Young Communist League before World War II, and lastly right before the electric chair was switched on Julius and Ethel Rosenberg still proclaimed their innocence.

In the national and international debate that ensued, some people believed that death sentence verdict for the couple was unkind.

But in President Eisenhower words, after declining executive clemency:

"I can only say that, by immeasurably increasing the chances of atomic war, the Rosenbergs may have condemned to death tens of millions of innocent people all over the world. The execution of two human beings is a grave matter. But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done."




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I always believe man can do anything he wants to do, regardless how he wanted to do it, how honorable or how undignified or how many people he needs to use or to serve in order to self-actualize himself. Self-expression.

And this made all men equal. His execution of his own self-expression makes him unique from the rest. Experience and the creative mind.

However, man has also a unique privilege and responsibility to protect themselves from other men who are also exercising their need to self-actualize.

Thus in the context of national security:

“….The execution of two human beings is a grave matter. But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done.”

However I can’t help but think, were the couple was also partly accused because of what they believed or used to believe? Panahon na ng cold war noon, kaya mataas ang chance na bias ang jury nila, Americans were at the doorsteps of paranoia.

I guess the death sentence in 1953 is an over-reaction.

But what if they were not guilty at all? They clamored their innocence even right at the very moment of their death. Anyway it can no longer be proven and it seems it won't matter.

Sometimes established institutions (government, religions, schools, etc) need sacrificial lamb every now and then in order for its existence, pleasant; for its survival, secured; and for its actions, divine.

History are nothing but compilation of pride.

We all want a peaceful world but it doesn’t assure us a safe place to live in. Capital punishment doesn’t assure a safer world.

If indeed the Rosenbergs guilty of the crime, there’s a chance the information spilled contributed to the proliferation of atomic bombs, and the eventual domino effect reached 2009 to the tune of North Korea.

The Rosenbergs should have let to live to witness history unfolds before their very eyes.

Will they rejoice or regret for what they’ve done? And for what they’ve become?

Who knew..

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