What makes us Human

I was speaking to some good men on a train. They were speaking about how the terrorists who have killed innocents should be hanged. One of them argued, "Why the formality of having them undergo a trial procedure" We have all seen them shoot people ruthlessly without any sign of remorse or guilt. We can just execute them without the whole thing wasting time in court procedure"

I said to them that "each individual has a right to a fair trial". Some of them looked at me in disbelief. One of them said that they [terrorists] were not humans but animals if they could kill innocents. And animals didn't deserve a trial. These men in my company didn't perceive the terrorist as men like the rest of us. Somehow they are ignorant of the extent of evil. The extent of evil that man is capable of because of the reality of evil and not so much because of the reality of the nature of Man

While I could easily argue the popular defense that if we execute them without determining their motive for their crime and offering them a right to their defense, there is no difference between us and them. If they are animals for taking away something of us without rhyme or reason, we are no different from them who have snatched away their chance to defend themselves because we are angry they have taken away our life without asking us.

Life is very sacred but we are guilty of defiling its sanctity too when we have no value for their lives simply because they don't have any for ours. We can change the way they think but in case if we are unable to, do we believe any less in the value of human life to take their lives away because a few don't agree with us on the sanctity of life and have turned into terrorists claiming many more lives than we will ever be taking by a few executions that we will eventually deem as righteous actions?

And why do their lives still hold any value that we are to respect them and consider them our equals, those that kill without reason while even killing with a reason wasn't bad enough?

Somewhere deep inside this brings up the question: what makes us human? Is it to share? Why even animals in a community often do that? Is it to love? Why even animals love their offspring and caress them. Although animals have a share in this nature to love and share, there is something distinctly radical about what makes us human. And this is the ability to be compassionate, to feel guilty and to repent. It is our ability to ask for forgiveness, mourn for our wrongdoings and seek to make amendments where we depart from animals.

And therefore, a criminal no matter how ghastly his crime can be sentenced to life imprisonment or even capital punishment due to various reasons according to the degree of his crime or his presence as an endangerment to society. But he ought not to be executed on the grounds of ceasing to be a human. Who decides when a terrorist ceases to be human? What is the measure for inhumanity? A thousand lives? Ten Thousand lives? Is it a measure of numbers?

For until the last breadth of his life, there remains a chance for him to repent and to feel human again contrary to what his crime makes him believe. And human as we are too, we cannot extinguish the hope that he may, for all the crimes he has committed, for all the bloodshed, for the torment, for the cruelty, still seek his conscience and repent and establish what makes us human.