Children learn by example. They form their ideas and expectations of the world based on what they see modeled for them in their own family. "Do as I say, not as I do" has never worked for kids. Children do as they see, always. They hear what is going on in the world and they look to the adults to see how they should respond.
So how do you teach a child tolerance of someone who wants us dead? By being tolerant of someone who wants us dead. I know this is going to stick in the craw of a lot of folks out there. It's not easy to put yourself in another's shoes when those shoes have walked in your family's blood.
But logically, there really is no other way. Because if I hate the person who hates me, then the circle is complete. If I kill the person who kills, the cycle continues. Someone, somewhere, has to cry enough. "I will not hate. I will not kill. Let it end with me." If I kill the killers, then the earth will still have killers.
It's useless and counter-productive to live in fear. If I die in a random act of terrorism... well, frankly, I'll no longer care, but fearing terrorism didn't save me. At least I will live a life free from hatred in my heart. But hopefully my children will have learned from me, and not allow hatred to consume them, and destroy their lives as well. Forgiveness requires you to be bigger than your pain.
I'm opposed to killing criminals. It's no deterrent, especially to one who is committed to martyrdom anyway. The death penalty is vengeance, pure and simple, and that poisons us, the "punishers". A bit of what makes this country so strong and great is poisoned and killed when we strip away civil liberties to "protect" the land from further acts of terror. In that sense, the terrorists have won.
It's really a very straight forward moral situation. If killing is wrong, then it is wrong for all. It can't be right for some, but not for others, or right on occasion when we think so. Who the hell gave us the higher moral authority? If we despise them for killing, then we decide to kill them? What? Where's the logic? To take another's life is deeply, morally wrong. We all agree on that. That's why we're so offended when someone we love is murdered. We need to step past our ancient knee-jerk response to our grief and act like the strong, responsible moral leadership we claim to be to the world.
~Flame RavenHawk
June 22, 2002