Originally Posted by: Jolly McJollysonI'm conflicted. Not over Saddam's death, really. Such a man, who has taken so many lives, deserves a terrible fate. Were he not killing his own people, the word for his mass murdering would be "genocide." His Stalin-esque style of tyranny was twisted and sick.

At the same time, I can't bear to watch the news coverage. When I heard they had showed his death on national television I felt ill. Death is a frightening thing, to me. To exist one moment and the next be a lifeless doll truly scares me. I wonder if it's wrong to be so sickened by death, yet believe Saddam deserved the fate he met.

Am I being hypocritical, then? In that I wouldn't pull the hangman's switch, but I think he deserved death? I don't feel like I'm acting out of some bloodlust, nor do I think my presumption that man's justice should dictate life and death is somehow playing God. But at the same time, I couldn't do it myself. Perhaps it's hypocrisy; maybe it's just respect for death itself.

It's healthy to have a respect for death. Not so much to fear it. We spend our lives trying to avoid something that is, in the end, unavoidable. As far as taking a life, I agree. I wouldn't want to do it. I doubt I could pull the switch or flip the lever or push the plunger. I was raised, and I expect you were as well, to respect life. We, as Americans anyway, rarely talk about death when we are growing up. Even precocious children will get some mumbly excuse or half-hearted explanation when they question their folks about death. It's not until we come to know of our own mortality that we begin to THINK about our deaths.

Don't get me wrong, I don't look forward to death or treat it lightly. I don't. But on the other side, I am not going to limit myself, my thoughts or my actions because of an overly-sensitized fear of dying. Common sense and limits.

Maybe it's a religious thing. I am not afraid to die (not too crazy about the whole dying thing though) because of my belief system. Now does that mean that I would not be sweating bullets at the end? Of course not. I would be scared out of my mind. Who wouldn't be afraid? But the idea of being here today and not tomorrow...that's okay. And if I'm wrong? No harm, no foul.

Earthman, I had to laugh and agree with you about hurting animals as well. If I had to go out and catch my own food, I promise you that I would be eating a lot of dandelions and such. I LOVE a good steak but if I had to smack a cow in the head with a ball bat to get it, well, I think I would pass.