Be Still My Bleeding Heart

 

People who read this are going to say I have a bleeding heart. Perhaps they are right. My sense is that we are looking into the face of tragedy.

Yesterday Jodi Arias was convicted of first degree murder in the killing of her boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander. She claimed self-defense but the evidence against her was overwhelming. In observing her on the witness stand her constantly changing story did not help her cause in the least. Additionally, he was found naked in the shower, a bullet wound to the face with 25 stab wounds and his throat slit from ear to ear. There were obvious signs of someone trying to cover their tracks at the scene as well. The claim of self-defense seemed far-fetched, at best. It was difficult to imagine that the jury would find anything other than convicting Ms. Arias of anything other than first degree murder.

Travis Alexander died at the age of 30. His life was mostly ahead of him. He’d had a fling with an attractive young woman and it ended horribly for both of them. Mr. Alexander lost his life and Ms. Arias is facing either the death penalty or life in prison with no hope of parole.

Jodi Arias told a reporter yesterday that she is hoping for the death penalty as longevity runs in her family. The idea of a long life in prison is worse, in her mind, than dying sooner rather than later. She is only 32 years old.

Switch to Boston. Two brothers, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. They set off a bomb at the end of the Boston Marathon and later killed a police officer. Four people are dead and many are wounded. The nation was turned upside down for their act of terror. Tamerlan died of gunshot wounds in a battle with police and was run over by his brother who escaped. Dzhokhar, all of 19 years old was later captured and was badly wounded. He is now in prison, recovering from his wounds and awaiting his fate. With Federal charges looming, he is facing either the death penalty of life in prison without parole.

Two young people are dead and two young people are facing either execution or life in prison without parole. I am ethically opposed to the death penalty. I do not believe we have the right to take lives of others and so my hope, for both of them, is that they receive life without parole. Life in prison without parole is a harsh sentence. Imagine being young, as both Jodi and Dzhokhar happen to be. They are both facing 50-60-70 years in prison. They will not be seeing sunrises or sunsets. They will not be around smiling children. The change of seasons will mean nothing for them. Holidays will mean nothing for them. The people around them will all be people convicted of terrible crimes. Privacy will no longer be theirs and the many routine pleasures of life we all take so much for granted will be denied them forever.

Sadly, this is their fate and they deserve it.

I feel badly for them as they are so incredibly young. My heart breaks for Travis as he was young and innocent of any crimes. He fell in love, one would imagine, with the wrong woman. Tamerlan was so young, so angry and so hateful that he sought to kill. Their lives were so short.

Jodi is only 32. Instead of moving on and letting go of a relationship, she sought to kill. Dzhokhar joined his brother in murderous mayhem. My heart breaks for them. It is not that I don’t believe they should be punished. Their taking of innocent lives screams out for that. Justice screams out for that. It is just that they are so young… It breaks my heart that life as they should have known it and could have known it is over for them because they chose to kill. It is so sad and so tragic. Such a waste! It is such a waste of life for them as a consequence of wasting away the lives of others.

A man on the news this morning, a man who was close to Travis was reflecting that he hopes Jodi receives the death penalty as a deterrent to others. I disagree with him, but fine. He then went on to say, however, that he KNEW, in the end, that when Jodi’s life was over, God’s justice would prevail and that was his hope.

I guess that is where I fervently disagree with him. My hope and prayer is that Dzhokhar and Jodi, as they sit for many years, no matter what their sentence happens to be, they open their hearts up to God and seek and receive God’s forgiveness. To me, God’s great justice is always God’s mercy and God’s mercy is one that is filled with love and forgiveness.

My hope and great prayer is that despite their grievous acts of murder, they find peace with God and are able to, one day, live in God’s peace and love. To me, the ultimate justice is God’s love.