Dylann Roof Found Guilty

Living a scant 100 miles from beautiful downtown Charleston, South Carolina I have been immersed in the trial of Dylann Roof perpetrator of what appears as one of the most henious crimes ever committed by a kid in my lifetime ... however accurate that may be at multiple levels.

Appearances are typically never reality.

This kid was found guilty on all counts stemming from the shooting deaths of nine congregants of a church in Charleston during Bible study after they most graciously welcomed him ...

This self avowed white supremacist and poster child for all that's wrong with white America is on the precipice of a verdict after the holidays which will determine if he faces life in prison or lethal injection.

He has caused his parents to suffer as well as those families whose members he took on that awful day as they placed their Christian love and humanity before their very lives and I mourn for those victims of his barbarity who are innocent yet made to suffer the consequences of his actions nonetheless.

So in this end stage of a saga which has been playing itself out in the local news media ad nauseum — as is their wretched custom I can only hope that young Mr Roof is like me and simply wants it all to be over.

My personal opinions regarding the proper punishment are no secret to those who know my position on murder and the death penalty. However, that irony of the perp and the victim, the situational tragedy of the senseless killing, along with the pain which continues for everyone he touched or is close to him remains.

I'll be glad when I can let as much of this go as I may ... never fully, but perhaps it won't be thrust into my existence each and every day in the near future.