Healing And Closure

Now that Saddam Hussein has been convicted by that Iraqi court and sentenced to hang I am hearing those hackneyed phrases "Now we can heal" and " We can finally have closure". What a silly and false concept that is. I doubt the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens who were murdered, brutalized and forced to live in terror will get any "closure" or "heal" their wounds when Saddam is executed.
His execution changes nothing, and it promotes anger that leads to more injustice. Yes, punish Saddam, but take no pleasure in it. Victims of an atrocity should accept the fact that there is no such thing as "getting even", at least for a sane and ethical person. What we lose forever is not regained by taking away someone else's property or life. When we are abused or suffer some injustice, instead of closure or healing we are left with only a permanent scar. And watching the one who inflict it suffer does not heal our hurt.
There are fewer sights more sad than watching a crowd gather outside a prison to cheer the execution of a criminal. Surely, society has the right and duty to punish those who commit heinous crimes, but a healthy society does not cheer the execution of a criminal. And now we are told we must take glee in the Saddam execution in order to "heal" or get "closure". To see those Iraqi's Shiites (the tribe Saddam most persecuted) dance in the streets at the thought of Saddam hanging is far from a healing act.
So maybe the best way to deal with injustice is not to seethe, hate and lust for revenge but rather trying to forgive more, The scar won't go away, but forgiveness and fairness may make it fade....and that is far better than enjoying the punishment the transgressor receives.
From the weird growth strategy department comes a warning in China against the increasingly popular use of the "Ilizarov procedure" Don't know what that is? It's a painful leg stretching technique for people who think they need to be taller. The patient's (usually women want to do this) leg is deliberately broken and affixed to a rack to stretched to the bones fuse together to cover the separated space. This can lengthen the leg significantly.
Now the government is warning citizens to stop because permanent damage and disability sometimes result. One newspaper reported a comment by a 33 year old woman who wanted to grow taller for what seems to be the main reason women use Ilizarov. "Ill have a better job and a better husband if I stretch my legs. It's a long-term investment."
Oh, my.....Women stretching legs to get l taller....Let's hope that men don't get the idea to stretch their ":favorite body part".