Would you fight to save his life? 


Muhammad is obviously guilty, but is the death penalty ever ok? 

I was pretty disturbed to find out this morning (while waiting for my oil to be changed) that the sniper and his protege both tried to escape captivity during their trials. This is a truly frightening man who seems to lack anything like remorse for what he has done. I would never want him back out on the street.

I remember well being out there on the corner after school shepherding children on home, and encouraging them to stick to the well-traveled main roads, especially after the sniper hit at the Home Depot VERY close to my school. it was terrifying for me, for their parents, and no doubt for the teenagers themselves (tho they try to act fearless).

I watched a victim's sister stand outside the courthouse and say that she wanted to see him get the death penalty. phew. That raised a big dilemma for me.

I have always been DEEPLY anti-death penalty. I cannot see how murdering a murderer makes everything ok. I wrote this really amazing anti-death penalty poem a few years ago about how we, as the survivors have to learn forgiveness and grieve and teach love and acceptance. That was before anything like this happened.

This is the first time one of these dramatic crimes has ever deeply affected me. This man's terror rampage changed my life, altered my routines. I zigzagged when I walked through parking lots. I worried when I stood on that corner, for myself and for my students. I failed to walk the dog at all for about two weeks, and stared at every white van that came anywhere near us (remember that?). phew.

I remember how relieved we all felt when they announced that they had caught him. We could all relax and feel free again, walk our dogs, play soccer, go for bike rides, and let the kids play outside.

This man made every dc-area resident's life hell for 3 weeks last year.

Should we kill him?

This is a very rough question for me. On the one hand, this man hurt me and people I care about (and some people I don't know at all) very very deeply. I have very little doubt that he can be psychiatrically rehab'ed at this point - he strikes me as a deeply ill man.

But Eric Butterworth wrote something amazing:in his book "Discover the Power Within You" about 30 or so years ago:
"Remember, Jesus has made the discovery of the Divinity of Man. He is trying to help us realize that there is always a depth-potential of strength within us even in times of weakness. He is telling us that if we find ourselves upset over something another person has said or done, our upset indicates that we have been in the wrong state of consciousness. To react to it in this same state of mind only compounds the problem within us. Jesus says, "Turn to the other side of your nature. You are both human and divine. There is that in you that can never be hurt, that is always poised and peaceful, that knows your spiritual unity with God and knows that no one can take your good from you. In this diviner state of consciousness, the hurt is healed, the influence of the other person on you is nullified and you become a healing influence on him." "
(p. 97)

I happened to read this passage on Sept 12, 2001. it helped me get some perspective on what had happened and that despite the horrendous loss of life and all the pain and agony caused to so many people on Sept 11, 2001, our good was not taken from us. Almost 4,000 people made a sudden transition from this world into whatever comes next, but those hijackers didn't take our good away. Instead of reacting with hatred and scorn and bombs and weapons, we needed to respond with a wish for healing and wellness - so that the world could heal that inside which caused people to hate so much they would kill and destroy. We needed to promote healing, not more death.

Isn't that the point (when you get past all our issues) of our justice system? And if it isn't, then shouldn't it be? It ought to exist to heal wounded people who take out their wounds on other members of our society.

So I cannot agree that the death penalty is appropriate, even here. Don't mistake me, I don't want these two EVER released into the community again. But I don't think that murdering them takes away the wounds we carry from that time of terror. Rather, I think it leaves us in a lower state of consciousness where we cannot heal ourselves, much less the sniper and his young friend. I think we must realize that this man could never take anything from us, no matter how destructive his actions, and find it in highest selves, our God selves, to forgive him and offer him healing. That is some hard $hit to do.

Phew. I gotta admit, tho - part of me really agreed with that woman on tv when she wanted him to die. 

Posted: Mon - November 17, 2003 at 06:51 PM          
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