I really struggle to get my head around the US being described as the leader of the free world, especially when I look at some of what is going on there under its current administration.
Don’t get me wrong, I love meeting people from the US, and I used to love going there, but there are some American ideas and customs I find difficult to understand.
On the plus side, they are pretty good at creating national days, like National Coffee Day, for instance.
Internationally, coffee gets its day on October 1, while the Americans like to get in first by celebrating theirs on September 29. They also have quite a history with the beverage.
Back in 1773, American colonists famously dumped hundreds of chests of British tea into Boston Harbour as part of their protest against British rule and taxation.
The Boston Tea Party also helped coffee become a patriotic alternative to tea in the colonies.
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So, not only did they thumb their noses at the British, they found another excuse to enjoy a good cuppa. Clever, really.
What is also clever is National Pumpkin Day on October 26. A master stroke leading up to Halloween. It seems they have national days for nearly everything, which I sort of get.
What I don’t get about America is the death penalty – particularly after death-row prisoner Christa Pike survived an execution attempt in Tennessee despite receiving two doses of the lethal injection drug.
Pike was taken to hospital after the failed execution and has since regained consciousness. Tennessee has halted executions for the rest of the year while the incident is investigated. What happens to Pike’s death sentence from here remains uncertain.
While I don’t agree with the death penalty, I understand every country and state has its own laws dealing with the most serious crimes and their perpetrators.
But there is something extraordinary about a system in which the state can try to execute someone, then provide medical treatment to keep them alive while their death sentence remains in place.
Could she eventually be put through it all again? To me, the situation is absurd.
I don’t think there should be a death penalty unless the prisoner chooses that option over a lifetime of incarceration. At least I could understand the logic in that.
What I cannot understand is nursing someone back to health after a failed execution while leaving open the possibility of another attempt.
Maybe they could add another event to the calendar – National Contradictions Day.
There would certainly be no shortage of material.
Ashley Robinson is Metropolitan Caloundra Surf Club CEO, chairman of Thunder Netball and a lifetime Sunshine Coast resident. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sunshine Coast News.
