Manson Dead, May WE Now Rest In Peace...

There's never any joy in death, but there can be a release, and a literal freeing of souls - the one who allowed death to befall others and those who were affected by the fallen.

Charles Manson's passing is in whole part a release to many who knew that all-too-damaged man had tormented himself and others for far too long.

To Manson's credit, he had, at least, acknowledged his status as a permanent prisoner decades ago by relinquishing his right to parole hearings which at least spared the victims surviving family members a certain amount of residual grief. Yet, knowing the man enough through his actions and words, that gesture wasn't a gift to his victims so much as it was Charlie coming as close as he ever would to admitting any sort of guilt as per his actions in the murders of Gary Hinman, Steven Parent, Jay Sebring, Voytek Frykowski, Abigail Folger, Sharon Tate, Leno LaBianca, Rosemary LaBianca and Shorty Shea. Nine people murdered all because Charlie wanted, and got, what he wanted, when he wanted it.

Many kids have abusive childhoods, many people suffer from paranoid schizophrenia, but many seek help and go on to live productive lives. Charlie's single reason for living was to seek revenge on anyone he declared was an enemy, anyone who even resembled any faction he thought had put him where he was in life. There was not, and will never be, any viable excuse for that kind of mindset nor for the destruction which ensued from that mindset, and deep down, I think Charlie knew this, and accepted his fate.

I think it's rather amusing that, in the end,

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no female took centre stage in his life or his Will, rather instead a longtime male pen-pal, Michael A Channels aka Backporch Tapes (pictured here posing behind bars) is claiming to be Charlie's sole benefactor (why do I feel a long protracted Will contest in Michael's future with Charlie's blood relatives?) 'Til death, the resentment he had for his mother reigned supreme in all womankind. In those years before televised interviews of all Califonia imprisoned killers were outlawed, you could clearly see his roiling rage whenever he was interviewed by a woman versus a man. Again, that shows how crucial caring for a child is in those formative years.

Would Tate-LaBianca have occurred if Charlie's mother had ever really cared for her boy? My gut says no. Charlie may still have ended up a roughian of sorts but the psychological damage would have been severely lessened if that woman had ever truly hugged her child and gave him unconditional love, which in my mind bolsters my support for adoption or abortion for an unfit mother-to-be. More global grief can be wrought in bad parenting than in no parenting at all.

At the announcement of his death, my mind flashed to Debra Tate, although my feeling is she would have had very little reaction, except maybe to whisper to Sharon, Patti and her parents, "Two down, my loves, [Susan Atkins, Manson], five to go [Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie van Houten, Bobby Beausoleil, Bruce Davis]".

My heart belongs to all the surviving family members who dutifully trek to each and every parole hearing of these killers, who unlike Charlie, keep throwing figurative darts at the parole board hoping, one day, one will stick, and they'll be set free. It is in those efforts that I think Tex's bayonet, the Girls' buck knives, Bobby's 9mm Radom and Bruce's machete wield devastating damage again and again, striking blows into these ever-grieving souls with every spin of the freedom wheel. All of the above should have been executed in 1971, and yet by a legal loophole they have been allowed to breathe and inflict endless sorrow upon those affected.

I'm with Debra, or whoever is just quietly counting the downed killers...two down, five to go, and I pray those five, like these two, also die behind bars where their minds and bodies belong.

I'm told Charlie's grandson, Jason Freeman (via Manson's marriage to Rosalie, and their only child, Charles Manson Jr., who changed his name to Jay White, and who committed suicide in his 30s), is attempting to lay claim to Manson's body and is planning a proper funeral (his GoFundMe page, according to the NY Daily News, started by Freeman's friend, John Jones, was shut down after it reached $979) for his grandfather (despite Charlie long ago disiniheiriting all blood relatives) which, good or bad, every human being deserves, but there are many who will not shed a tear come that burial day, for too many tears have already been shed for bodies lowered into their graves some 48 years ago. Murder. It creates death ripples and affects all who are touched by that black mass. As an aside, if no person claims Manson's body within 10 days, the stated is ordered to execute a cremation.

I was not sad at the announcement of Charlie's death, - the psychotic killer/beatnik finally got what he deserved, and the proper sentence was finally carried out. I was melancholy in remembrance of the past, that maybe now with Charlie's passing, the '60s have truly come to an end, and that's probably a good thing, a healing thing, as a long-favoured wound has grown into a fading scar and so ushered in some positive growth, that We All, with each Manson Family death, can move one step closer into the Now, a place Charlie so promoted was the place to Be.

Rest in Peace, Us All, as we continue the count.