Prior to the Boston Marathon bombings perhaps the most hated person(s) in the history of that fair city (apart from Bucky Dent) were the Redcoats that opened fire during the Boston Massacre. John Adams stepped up and, despite the potential impact on his political career, provided a successful defense. His actions paid personal and historical dividends in the long run, even earning him a chapter in John Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage.
Were he alive today, Kennedy would have no need to contemplate a new chapter for his book; at least not one arising out of the ugly aftermath of the bombing. Tamerlan Tsarnaev denied the humanity of the people he chose to kill. Presumably, he did what he did, to make a point, and his victims were merely collateral damage to which he gave not a second thought. Now, some folks want to return the favor by denying him a burial place. Boston Mayor Tom Menino seems like a nice guy, and from what I understand he has been a decent mayor, but he doesn’t cover himself with glory by kow-towing to these demands. By all means, tramp the earth down after the job is done, but don’t cave to people whose attitude is an outgrowth of bigotry toward immigrants, Muslims, or all of the above. We didn’t have this debate about Timothy McVeigh.
How refreshing it would be to hear a politician come out and appeal to the better angels of our nature, and call on us to be better than our foes, rather than compete with them to see who can be more spiteful and narrow minded.
Bury the man. He was a human being, however loathsome, and we owe him that recognition, not for his own merits, but as an affirmation of our own.
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