Yesterday at the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City, Brian David Mitchell was sentenced to life in prison for his heinous crimes against Elizabeth Smart. Following the sentencing, Smart said
Today is the ending of a very long chapter and the beginning of a very beautiful chapter for me...I want you [Mitchell] to know that I have a wonderful life now. No matter what you do, you will never affect me again. You took away nine months of my life that can never be returned. But I know that in this life or the next, you will be held responsible for what you have done and I hope you're ready for that when it comes.
If only other Utahns could have handled the sentencing with as much grace and aplomb as the victim.
Maybe it's a result of so many of us having become jaded in the face of torture of enemy combatants, I don't know. But I was very disturbed yesterday to hear caller after caller on the Rod Arquette show in Salt Lake City opine--sometimes with glee, other times with faux righteous indignation--that Mitchell should be "...held responsible for what [he has] done..." by deserving the same kind of abuse--that they expect he has coming--in maximum security federal prison.
'The kinds of people that other inmates hate worst', said one caller, 'are rapists and pedophiles. So I can imagine that when Mitchell gets there, there are gonna be a lot of other prisoners wanting to get a piece of him. And I think that's good.'
Subsequent callers agreed that he deserves what he's got coming--and then they described quite graphically how they hoped he would be beaten, tortured, and raped, so that he could feel the pain of what he did to Elizabeth Smart.
Elizabeth Smart doesn't want that. To be sure, she was very happy that her abuser would be behind bars for the rest of his life. I agree that he deserves to be behind bars. She deserves to be happy. But Elizabeth didn't express any glee or indignation similar to the radio show callers in expecting Mitchell to 'get what he deserved' in prison.
Elizabeth Smart is not that cruel. No one should be.
It's the same "Eye for an eye!" mentality that we saw over the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Americans today, even members of the church, want to revert back to the law of Moses rather than live by the principles taught by Christ.
ReplyDeleteOne commenter over at the Trib mentioned how Ed Smart looked like he still wants pure, undiluted revenge, and how that kind of attitude will forever chip away at him unless he can obtain the spirit of forgiveness. The same can apply to the country as a whole if we continue to let the attitude of the "natural man" eat away at our principles.
It is an eye for an eye mentality. But in part, we don't want him just to go to prison to be removed from society we also want him to suffer in prison. He will suffer because prison is a bad place, and some people think that is the just rewards for being a terrible person (kidnapping and torturing someone)
ReplyDelete@Dave P. You wrote, "One commenter over at the Trib mentioned how Ed Smart looked like he still wants pure, undiluted revenge, and how that kind of attitude will forever chip away at him unless he can obtain the spirit of forgiveness. The same can apply to the country as a whole if we continue to let the attitude of the "natural man" eat away at our principles."
ReplyDeleteJust because that is someone's comment doesn't mean it's true. I/You/Commenter haven't anyway of knowing how Ed Smart feels. He looked like he still wants - looks don't mean anything - and if I were a father sitting in court hearing again all the things that happened to my daughter, I may look the same, but so what; I also do not think it is for you or anyone else to assume that he should forgive anyone. What if it happened to someone you loved? Would forgiveness be that easy to offer up? I say it wouldn't, but even I don't know.
Just because some idiots call a radio show and say stupid things, they don't speak for everyone and neither do you. The way I feel is that I don't care what happens to this waste of a life. I don't care if he lives a happy life in prison or if he is beaten and raped; I wouldn't wish it on him, but this is the his life now and what happens will happen.
Still, to think I know anyone's heart - like you and the supposed commentator seem to know - is pathetic. I don't know your heart and I don't know the heart of the country as a whole, but you appear to be a lucky man because you can know the heart of the country...lucky you.