crime and compassion

Sorry for the long silence. I've had several blog impulses, but wanted to get this post, which I've been sweating over for a while, up before I went on to lighter subjects. I've been very hesitant to post it, mostly because I'm afraid I'm articulating very poorly what I want to express. Guess I'll find out!

DISCLAIMER: I am not a qualified teacher of the dharma (Buddhist teachings), so please take what I say even in peripheral relation to them as the obscured bumblings of an amateur, and don’t evaluate the dharma based on my words.

At dharma class on Tuesday night, when I should have been making my mind an open vessel to the teachings, something started me thinking about Brian Nichols, the gunman in Atlanta. The end of that story was so interesting. As events unfolded and the body count went up, I think the media and myself both imagined that it could only end in a bloody standoff. In reality, the end was much different.

How was the violent “madman” brought down? By one average citizen, his hostage, just talking to him. She pleaded for her life, and told him her daughter had already lost her father, but she also listened to him and talked with him about the Bible (via a popular Christian book) and the purpose of life. He untied her. She made him pancakes. And in the end, after talking with her for hours and never hurting her, Brian Nichols let her go, even though she believes he knew she would call police.

I realize some people might be a little repulsed by the idea of her speaking kindly to him and making him breakfast, because he has raped and killed people. I have grown to feel it is important to generate compassion for all sentient beings, including criminals. One of the prerequisites to generating compassion is to realize that the other person/dog/mosquito, all other beings, are essentially just like me: they suffer just like me and they seek happiness just as I do. The hostage, Ashley Smith, had a criminal history of petty crime herself. Maybe this enabled her to look through her fear in some way?

I'm grateful that for once, a storyline that promised to end in (additional) violent bloodshed was just snuffed out by one person's brave compassion.