Facts are difficult to come by in the Trayvon Martin Case, and

[Voice for Peace]

30. A fair inference I think

is that the magistrate didn't successfully nurture his
son's mental health.

Possibly he was bullied growing up, possibly by father
or perhaps he was utterly neglected. Somewhere he
learned that he had no value unless he was a big tough
guy. Picture from his past looks like person with very
low self-esteem & very unhealthy lifestyle.

None of this is to excuse Zimmerman.

However compassion is not an exclusive human emotion.
Compassion is the nature of life itself, that's why there's
a brand new sunrise every day. That's why fish keep
spawning even when their offspring have three heads, they
love 'em anyway. That's why little flowers bust through
concrete and in the worst polluted places. Relentless life,
relentless compassion. A fresh start every moment.

Zimmerman will get justice, I don't doubt it, though I don't
know what that should be, and neither does anybody else.
My belief is that he will at some point have to feel the pain
of that gunshot, and all of the sorrow it caused, multiplied.
Whether he is in jail or a free man, or on his death bed,
one day he will have to feel that, and it will be horrible,
it will be agony.

External punishment doesn't create remorse. Sometimes
it provides a shock to the system, and a setting where the
criminal can face himself.

But just as often, or more often, it provides an environment
where the criminal's self-delusion and self-justification is
reinforced. Almost everyone in jail feels wronged, it's
natural.