The Death Penalty

Here's what's really weird:  I used to be all for it.

That's not so weird.  A lot of people are for the death penalty, and like I said, I used to be--until this summer.  What changed my mind?  Oddly enough, Timothy McVeigh.

Let me back up for a moment.  Six years ago, McVeigh blew up the Murrah Building.  168 people died (169 if you count the nurse, Rebecca Anderson, which I do).  My mother could easily have been one of them, but she was on the back side of the building, going on break with some of her coworkers.  I will say that when the final count came in and I thought about all the people who died (especially the 35 from my mom's office; I knew several of them), I had it in my mind that McVeigh should die.  An eye for an eye, right?  You kill someone, you give up your right to live.  You kill 169 someones, you're toast.  May God have mercy on your soul.

Long story made short:  A few years went by.  McVeigh went to court, was convicted, and got the death penalty.  That made a lot of Oklahomans happy, including myself.  Then the date was set--May 16 (later changed to June 11)--and I started to feel a little queasy about the whole thing.  Not that I would be sorry to see him go, but the thought of executing someone made me slightly ill.  So I got on the good ol' Internet and read up on arguments for and against the death penalty and did a lot of thinking.  Then I went to the memorial museum and did some more thinking, and I decided I could no longer support the death penalty, even in McVeigh's case.  

See, here's what I concluded:  The death penalty is not justice so much as revenge.  It's as if we're saying, "You want to go around killing people?  Fine.  You did.  Now, in the name of those you killed, we're gonna kill you!"  I don't like that idea.  If I was ever murdered, I would not be thrilled at the prospect of someone doing more killing on my behalf.  If my mother had died in the bombing I wouldn't want there to be more killing on her behalf either.  Yet there are so many people who feel that they can't truly heal until the person who murdered their loved one has been put to death.  Why not?  Even when a murderer gets the death sentence, the appeal process takes so long that it may be 20 years before the execution happens.  Why let a criminal control you for 20 years?  It seems to me that the best way to triumph over a murderer would be to live.  If I were murdered, I wouldn't want my family and friends to be consumed by this need to avenge my death.  I'd want them to go on and live happy, peaceful lives.  Besides, it is not up to us to deal death on anybody.  That's God's exclusive domain.  We're not God.  We're God's creations, but we're not God.  His hands are a lot stronger than ours--let Him handle the heavy stuff.