Sentenced

Sentence is an evocative word. It can refer to a grammatical structure or to a term meted out to someone who's accused of a crime. Sententia is the Latin for opinion which comes from sentire "to feel." Indeed a sentence is defined by the fact that it comprises a thought or feeling. A sententious person is one who excessively amplifies feelings. Today "No" is increasingly thought of as a sentence. When someone is sentenced for a crime they have plenty of time to think over their behavior. In certain societies one is sentenced for the expression of certain opinions, but life itself can be looked at as a sentence in the criminological meaning of the word. One is sentenced to life to the extent that one’s DNA  determines a rather restricted path. If you’re a believer in free will, you might say that individuals are given a lot of rope. A determinist might counter by adding "to strangle oneself with." The more you resist fate, as is evident in the case of poor old Oedipus who brought about his own downfall in attempting to avoid a prophecy, the more likely you are to be reined in by reality. In the meanwhile in your solitary abode, which at times affords the delusion of freedom, within the cell in which even the most swaggering personality resides, lies a profusion of words which ultimately constitute the legacy of a life.