We recall the exchange between the father of a slain daughter and Sr. Helen Prejean immediately following the execution they both witnessed. Prejean commented that he was like a man, dying of thirst, reaching for a tall glass of salt water. Timothy McVeigh thinks himself a hero. McVeigh considers himself a martyr.
Martyrs attract their own following, their own imitators.
Life in prison without parole is far less seductive than martyrdom and a much saner alternative. McVeigh, by becoming the first person to undergo federal execution in 37 years, will win a unique place in penal history. His execution will open the floodgates for the executions of the other 19 on death row with him in Terre Haute. His death would lubricate the wheels of the killing machine. Finally, those who take to heart the biblical injunction to love our enemy find in the world's McVeighs a profound challenge.