Are My Tears Wasted?

Today I am feeling sad and the reasons for this could land me in hot water depending upon the company I am with, so I need to be careful how I express this, although stating it bluntly is really the only thing to do. Here goes...

I am feeling sad because Saddam Hussein is going to be executed for doing what so many despots and dictators have done in the past, will do in the future, and are in the process of doing as I write. It is not a question in my mind of whether he deserves his fate or not and it is not even a case of questioning the decisions of the Iraqi courts or of the families of the victims having a right to the closure such a punishment will bring; the question racing through my mind is, "When will the killing stop?" With Iran rushing to harness the power of nuclear weaponry, most likely so they have the power of Jihad in their hands, and with atrocities being committed afresh every day throughout the world, when will the killing stop?

If we all, as a world and a species, decided to stop killing one another we would have to do so while acknowledging that, yes, some people who deserve to be killed will not be killed, but many more who do not deserve death as a punishment will live at least a while longer. So, it is not a question of just deserts or judgement, but a question of decision and heart - When will the killing stop?

When will we stop slaughtering one another, even wanting to slaughter one another, because we believe different things, want different things? Can we ever stop the hatred without making every human being a duplicate clone of each other? Every group seems to envision Heaven as being a place where everybody believes the same things and worships the same God, but everyones' ideas and beliefs along those lines are different and there is no one definition that suffices for everyone. Perhaps we need to embrace the differences and acknowledge that we really do not know what Heaven is like, we can only guess. It is just as likely that Heaven will be a place of total peace despite vast and varied differences in thought and belief rather than the cloned paradise so many seem to long for and want. There are as many possiblities as there are people to embrace and believe in them. But perhaps that is too frightening or challenging a thought for this humble blog to explore. Asking people if their God is too small can be hazardous to the health of the one doing the asking.

Religion and power are the primary motives for this mass desire to slaughter, tear, rend and amend everyone else's ideas and beliefs. They are powerful emotive factors in personal as well as world circles. By acknowledging this to one another and ourselves are we a step closer to ending the killing or are we merely offering an explanation, a platitude, upon the world stage that we feel justifies our own stand regarding the subject? When will the killing stop?

I do not weep for Saddam Hussein, himself, nor do I approve of the choices he made from his personal store of paranoia and weakness while he was in power in Iraq. I do not question whether his fate is deserved or not. I weep because he will be, in the end, merely one more dead human being, killed for his faults and weaknesses, his beliefs and his wrong actions, and not one of his victims will ever be brought back, not one of his crimes will ever be fully absolved. The families of those he killed will still grieve - that cannot be escaped - and his own family, many of whom may harbor no measure of genuine guilt for the actions of their father, brother, uncle, cousin, son, or even friend, will also grieve. The pain will not end because the world got to see Saddam Hussein face death, it will still be there and will still be as bad.

There is obviously some degree of satisfaction in bloody revenge and his death will pamper that small and pitiful need in those who are determined to follow it through to its grisley end. "Death to Saddam Hussein!" will be seen as a rallying cry for all of those too determined to kill to be dissuaded from their goal and it will also be the impetus and reason for more killings, more grisley crimes people perpetrate against one another, by those who oppose such a fate for him. There will be retributions and more revenge; more slaughter, more death, although Saddam is asking his followers not to seek reprisal at least against the "invaders." Perhaps the diginity he lacked as a world figure will enable him to face his death bravely, if not, hopefully, he will be allowed a few drugs to calm him and get him to the noose without more trauma. I will not be watching, but I will be crying...When will the killing stop? If not with Hussein, then where and with whom?

When will the killing stop?