He who is merciful to the unjust, an ancient sage said, will prove unjust to the merciful.
Was the death verdict the jury gave Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev last Friday an act of mercy or justice? For his sentence will affect not just him but so many others—all those others whose lives have been changed by his crime, the three people killed and the more than 240 wounded that confused and violent day in Boston.
What of all their families, children, friends? Would it have been better to let all twist in the wind while the appellate decisions are handed down over the course of the coming years? Each of the dead was an individual in his own right. So is each of those wounded, many of whom will continue to struggle with their wounds the rest of their lives. Then there is the whole community’sthe whole nation’s—interest in doing justice and loving mercy.
There are some questions too deep for us. Opinions will differ, and in the end who knows? Some questions are too deep for anyone.
But let us hold on to this assurance: If this death sentence ever is carried out, at least the murderer—like Timothy McVeigh of the Oklahoma City massacre—will not trouble this world any longer. That surely is a mercy.