The mixed feelings of Jay S. Winuk, whose brother Glenn died at the trade center, seemed to capture many family members' reactions to the jury's decision.
"My brother died, and almost 3,000 other people died, and you just want to scream for justice," Mr. Winuk said.
He said he did not know what the right verdict would have been.
Rosemary Cain, who lost her son George, a New York firefighter, said she heard the verdict on her car radio. "I had a kind of sinking feeling in my stomach," Ms. Cain said. "I was absolutely hoping they would put him to death."
"He is just an empty, empty person," she said. "There are just some people who cannot be rehabilitated." NYT May 4, 2o06 There are no easy endings to a trial like this. Nobody goes away completely satisfied. Yet the writer for the NYT, whether purposefuly or not, raises two questions which vex believers in our Judeo-Christian tradition. As Jay S. Winuk asked: what is justice? He was honest enough to say that he didn't have an answer to that question in this case. We also struggle to find a place in the creation for people who are, as far as we can discern, "empty" of normal human empathy. So the other, more bothersome question I face when I read about sociopaths or people apparently born without consciences is: why does God allow that? If all human beings have an innate capacity for good, then why do some apparently show no innate ability to empathize? if anybody has an answer, please give readers, and this writer, the gift of your insight.
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Last night on Public Television I watched with great interest and later with fascination at a study of men and women in the UK. This study perfomed not only tempermant testing on groups of men and women but also CAT scans as their brains were stimulated by pictures of facial expressions in various emotional states, i.e., frustrated, angry, happy, apathetic, et al. They focused on this couple who had been married thirty years; she was very empathetic and emotional and he was apathetic and stoic. After doing the CAT scans, they discovered that in the center of the brain, the wife was highly charged emotionally in her responses, whereas the husband was not. Don't get me wrong, but they do love each other and their marriage is a testament to that. It simply revealed to both of them that they needed to approach one another's reactions to things with the understanding that she is deeply feeling and he is not. So in light of your very good question, E, some people apparently are born apathetic and emotionless while others are charged with emotion and empathy. In the study, most of the men, 9 out of 10 were extremely less empathetic than the least empathetic women in the same study.
It is not impossible then that there are people who exist who feel no remorese or seem to possess no consciousness. It is unfortunate but then we do live in a very imperfect and marred world.
Even this man who stood trial is made in the image of God, and only He/She can have the last word on his soul.
In times of such tragedy it is the hardest thing in the world for some people to believe in a good and just God. I empathize with those who feel this way but not all the time.
Thanks for the opportunity to comment.
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