This blog is definitely not supposed to be political at all, nor do we want to get into partisan economics or world issues that divide people against each other. I am definitely not going to get into the morality of capital punishment either. This is not the place for that.

However, the fact that someone was executed this week, and it might have been a false conviction, makes my heart truly sink. The more articles that surface about Troy Davis’ execution on Wednesday night, the more you have to ask yourself, how could this have possibly happened in the United States in 2011? With so many checks and balances, petitions and international organizations aware and actively against this… How could this execution have taken place if even the slightest doubt of his innocence existed?

Clearly, it’s too late for him. Troy Davis was probably wrongly executed two nights ago. But is there anything we can do going forward so that doesn’t happen again? If there is no conclusive forensic evidence to tie someone to a crime, and 7 out of 9 “witnesses” recant their testimony saying police officers coerced them into testifying a lie… If that is not enough, then what else do we need to do? If more than one million people around the world sign petitions and Amnesty International and the NAACP take up a possibly wrongly convicted criminal’s cause for years… If that is not enough, then what else do we need to do?

This month of September we have dedicated it to Carpe Diem, seizing the day. We have talked a lot about how to make that day better and worth it for us. Today, in that same spirit, let’s dedicate it to others. What opportunity can we seize today that will make other people’s lives a little better? Maybe it’s as simple as dropping your change into a children’s organization in a Starbucks, or sharing a cause you care about with someone else over Facebook or a forwarded link.

Whatever it is, let’s do something in our power today do contribute to the greater circle of life in Troy Davis’ name.