Killing is Easy?

The world watched this week as John Allen Muhammad, also known as the DC Sniper, was executed... oh wait, that's right, the world wasn't watching.  In fact, there was very little coverage on it.  I heard more about the possible breakup of Aerosmith this week than I did about the execution of a man who cowardly killed 10 people in one of the most publicized crimes of 2002.  I didn't hear about any anti-death penalty protests, no memorial pieces about the victims, no possible "jihad" links, nothing other than the Beltway sniper was going to be executed on November 10, 2009.  Granted, the execution did take place in Virginia, which still holds to certain conservative view points, but I wondered if the reason why I didn't hear very much about it was that we as a nation don't care.  I don't believe the lack of attention was due to a feeling of vengeance that needed to be carried out, if that were the case the media would have paraded the fact that the execution was taking place a mere 7 years or so after the murders were committed.  Perhaps we feel that "justice" was being carried out, proof that the legal system works, that bad guys are apprehended and punished?  But if that were the case, wouldn't the media play that up aswell?  I find it hard to believe the Obama administration wouldn't have jumped at the chance to somehow attribute this great symbol of American justice to their "savior president".

No, I think it is because we don't care.  Death is devastating when it happens to a loved one, tragic when it happens to an acquaintance, unfortunate when it occurs in our town, and just another story when it happens in another state.  We don't care about death, or famine, or starving children, or saving the whales, or any of it, and don't start getting on your high horses saying that you do!  Oh sure, we watch the commercials asking us to "save the children" and think how sad it is for them, we wonder how a wife will get by when her husband is killed by a drunk driver, we as a nation kept our American Flags up for about a year after 9/11, but when it comes down to action most people don't donate to feed starving refugees in foreign countries, we don't seek out and give aid to the mourning widow, and drive around your neighborhood and see how many American Flags are still waving proudly.

The death penalty in particular use to be a hot-button topic, and whenever a death sentence was carried out it was a big deal.  For decades the American people fought in nearly every state over the moral decency, correctness, and appropriateness of the death penalty.  The battles have led to many states outlawing certain forms of capitol punishment, others changing the crimes which could warrant the death penalty, and still others outlawing it altogether.  Prisoners now must be deemed physically well enough to be executed, efforts have been made to make the form of execution less painful, and the condemned have been granted more ways of postponing their sentenced dates.  Cases of wrongful execution for years fed the fire, causing many to question not only the practice of capitol punishment, but the entire legal system and its ability to effectively detour, resolve, and punish.

It was also announced this week that the accused 9/11 masterminds would be heading to New York City for trial, and that the death penalty was going to be sought.  Again, I caught this story as a small news spot in the Associated Press, I didn't see it on the news or hear it on the radio, and no one seems to be talking about it.  Have we become so desensitized as a people that the idea of taking an individual's life, even as punishment, isn't a big deal?

I personally am in favor of the death penalty in cases of murder.  I don't have this view point out of a sense of revenge.  It doesn't bring the deceased back, and I don't believe it causes any kind of cosmic balance within the universe.  I am in favor of the death penalty as a form of mercy, so that the convicted might have a chance in the hereafter by willfully atoning for their crime/sin, a sin which in my opinion is the most difficult to overcome.  I believe it is a far greater punishment to allow an individual who commits murder to live out their life and die without being able to perform restitution for their sin, thus leaving that debt unpaid once they come to judgement.

Despite this personal belief, shouldn't it still be a difficult thing to kill another person?  The time of their probation is being ended!  I've seen dead bodies, it's a humbling experience.  It is a reminder of how fragile life is, and how easily it can be over.  I wonder if our indifference is because all it is to us is an article in a paper?  I wonder how we would feel if we were the ones pushing the button, pulling the level, carrying out the act?  Whether our motives be for revenge, justice, or mercy, I wonder if our feelings on capitol punishment would change if the person's life, even the most vile of individual, were in our hands?