The Execution Of Timothy James McVeigh
Was It Justice, Or Was It Retribution?
I read everything I could get my hands on concerning the aftermath of the June 11th execution of someone who was touted to be "the most hated man in America." Well, for starters, I'm in Canada, a country which abolished capital punishment years ago. Yes, there are many low murmurings about bringing it back, but I do not think that will happen anytime soon. Why? Because the death penalty is considered cruel and unusual punishment. It's not the actual execution itself, but the years of waiting, while one appeal after another is processed.
Thirty-three-year-old McVeigh said he was ready to die. He waivered anymore appeals and just wanted to get it over with. He'd already ruined his life completely and caused untold suffering on so many people who were unfortunate enough to be in the Alfred P. Murrah federal building on that fateful Wednesday morning on the 19th of April, 1995. Personally, I believe that giving him 168 life sentences, to be served consecutively, is ample punishment for McVeigh's violent actions. Putting a young and healthy man to death was both a waste and an act of futility.
This is a copy of Timothy McVeigh's final statement, spoken by another person just prior to the first injection. No, he expressed no remorse for what he did, but when and if you read further, you may come to understand that the way McVeigh subverted his emotions allowed him to not only carry out his deadly mission, but feel no sympathy for the survivors. Had he let down his powerful psychological shields and said he was sorry, then his legacy, as far as the bombing is concerned, would be quite different. Tim McVeigh wanted to be seen as a revolutionary, of one who was simply putting an anti-government action into terrible practise. If one dares or cares to enter the man's mindset, he or she would comprehend why he could not have admitted to making a grave mistake.
Survivors and victims of the dead who watched Timothy McVeigh die from a lethal injection did not reach any sense of closure. How could they? These grieving people were simply exposed to yet another death which stemmed from the bombing tragedy. Many wished they hadn't attended. I predicted that, just as many did. Nothing can be gained by piling another negative over other negatives. They wanted to see this bomber, who apparently had no feelings of remorse for his victims, take his last breath and pass on peacefully into the great beyond. Most figure he'll burn in hell, but I do not share that belief. Everyone is forgiven for their sins--that was the reason that Jesus Christ died for our transgressions, so we'd be invited into heaven. I do not believe there is any hell, except what we experience here on earth. Our relatively short time on his less-than-ideal planet is meant, I believe, as a survival test. Some pass with flying colours, like Sister Theresa, but others have some issues to work out before meeting God and his angels.
Why did I feel compassion for Timothy McVeigh? Well, I believe that no-one is all bad and that he just got so completely obsessed with bombing that building, after he witnessed the carnage at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, back in 1993. McVeigh said and did things to get an angry rise out of people. He knew how to push our buttons and did so with the deftness of a world-famous pianist. His long, slender fingers were not meant for bomb-building---they were much better suited to paint portraits, write, act or produce music. Here was a young man who had tremendous potential and he wasted it on a hollow cause. He was damned by many, due to recent comments about the dead children ebing "collateral damage," and by singing that song I never liked, "Get Over It." These comments were so obviously chosen by McVeigh so that virtually everyone would hate him.
So what is responsible for the dramatic turn-around? Until last December, McVeigh fought his conviction and was trying to get the death penalty off the table. Now, he appears to wish to die. Only Tim knows the answer and he will never divulge enough of his plans and personality---they will die with him.
I have written a collection letters to McVeigh and am mailing the last one, a 7-page one, on Monday. He will get it before he goes to the death house, that concentration camp-like building that serves no other purpose than to elicit fear and despair from Tim, as well as other death row inmates.
