Before Matt departed Ireland for Chicago, a reader asked him the reaction in Ireland to Scotland’s recent decision freeing one of the convicted perpetrators of the tragic downing of PanAm flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988.

Matt responds:

In Ireland, the radio, television, and newspapers have commented extensively on the pros and cons of this debate.

There has been a lot made of the pronouncements of world leaders, and recently the man who had the final decision in this, made an impassioned argument for why he came down on the side of letting this man go.

As with all things human, no matter what it is, there will be pros and cons of how we react to different events, especially to atrocities.

When you go back to our heritage, which for me is based in the Judeo-Christian religion, you have the philosophy of “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

There are now philosophies that challenge that.  They talk about the forgiveness of God and emphasize things other than, “Vengeance is mine!”

I have said I personally would rather not see the death penalty or what is thought of as extreme punishment, but I’m two-faced on that, because when it comes down to, “What if it was one of your family who was killed?”, my immediate reaction is:  “Off with their heads!”

So asking me about these particular things will not give you a true picture of the debates of such inflammatory and heart-rending incidents.

I have not reached the stage in my development where I would sanction releasing somebody who had killed my child or mother or father.

But that’s my personal problem.

I’m on a pilgrimage towards trying to reach some semblance of order in my mind to the reality of the stupidity and the cruelty of mankind.  I still haven’t come up with my own answers and would find it impossible to tell other people how to think.

But thanks for the challenge.  I really needed that.

Matt