The example of change in this story that is most striking to me is in the penultimate paragraph. When Steve Earle says "I don't think any of us are the same people that crossed the street to the prison that day", he is saying that while every person there was affected in some way by Jonathan Wayne Nobles in life, it was his death that made the biggest impact on them.

While probably not what Earle intended to effect with that sentence, it made me ponder if Jonathan Wayne Nobles would have been able to touch the people that he did if it were not for the death penalty. If Nobles had simply served out a life sentence rather than being killed, would he have still garnered as much attention as he did or would he simply have been another remorseful convict? Furthermore, without the knowledge of his imminent death, would Nobles himself have been transformed away from the monster that he was when originally incarcerated or would he have lived out his years behind bars as a bitter and hateful individual?