And Justice for All

They got the guys who bombed the Boston Marathon.
That makes today a happy day, but it also gives us a moment to take a deep breath and consider some important issues.  First, the narrative of what went down this week:  Monday there were several explosions, people were killed, injured and maimed, and no one had any idea who was responsible.  The specter of terrorism is ever present, but I noticed, for the first time since 9-11, there was no immediate panic, no call to arms to fight the war on terror.
But neither was there mute acceptance that things like this are bound to happen.  What there was was an immediate, purposeful and focused response, by a nation that is no longer an amateur at dealing with incidents like this.   I want to give much respect to the various law enforcement agencies involved in this the events of this week, looks like you guys finally have it figured out.  There was no panic.  There was very little chaos.  You let the media have their space and conduct their circus, but you kept it out of your field of operations.  You used the citizens of Boston as the resource they are, and you kept them safe.  One of the talking heads said as the shelter in place order came down, and staggering numbers of armed police units rolled into Watertown: "They seem to have a purpose and know exactly what to do."  You did, you are serious men and women and you did your job well.
The result: you captured Dzhokar Tsarnaev alive, and that is both a wonderful victory and now presents a staggering challenge for the rest of the nation.  I hope that we can handle ourselves with as much class as you did in apprehending him
What kept striking me repeatedly as I watched the theater of the absurd that is the 24-hour news cycle, is how unlike a monster Dzhokar looked in the picture that was up in some part of the screen nearly all day.  Don't get me wrong, what he did was evil, there is no shred of sympathy for the actions of terrorism, but it reminded me again that the terrorists themselves are often the first victims of the evil that eventually explodes out into the world.
I wonder how a 19 year old college student, who by most of his friends accounts, was well adjusted, friendly and intelligent, gets so twisted that he can go along with a plot to blow up innocent people watching the marathon.  The people who carry out these sorts of things are often brainwashed and bullied, indoctrinated and turned completely psychotic by some sort of powerful pressure.  In this case it may have been his older brother, but it almost certainly involved a much larger group of people, it almost certainly involved a religious perspective and worldview that has been responsible for much of the hatred and violence that has exploded out into the world in recent years.
Perhaps the challenge to a nation that proclaims liberty and justice for all, is to respond to this young man, not as an evil villain, but as a victim of a system that has severely twisted his soul.  Maybe the challenge in meting out justice is to resist the urge to try to "pay back" the violence that has been done, and temper our justifiable outrage with mercy, and try to finally learn the lesson that violence only begets more violence.
Think of the 19 year olds that you know, have known.  Think of the 19 year old that you were at one point in your life, and then try to understand the sort of creature we're talking about here.  They are at the height of alienation, not quite children, not quite adults.  Old enough to join the army, too young to drink alcohol.
When I was 19, I was pretty mad at the world, if I had had an older brother who led me into a world where serious and twisted people were telling me there was something I could do about it by setting off a couple bombs, who knows what I might have done.
This is not to make excuses.  This is not to say there doesn't need to be justice.
This is a call to consider, maybe for the first time in the history of events such as this, what Justice actually looks like.