Murderers

It takes a particularly hardened heart to kill a man who begs for his life. And yet the cruel captors of Kim Sun-Il did exactly this.

Kim Sun-Il embraced life. He wanted to live, and begged passionately for the chance. The death-enthralled terrorists, who embrace Mars the god of war (and not Allah "the merciful" of Islamic prayer) showed no mercy, no kindness.

In this, they emulated not the merciful God, but the all-too human instinct we call rage. In some ways, I pity these terrorists as much as Kim Sun-Il. He, at least, understood the value of life enough to cherish it and ask to keep it. His tormentors obviously have never known life - only death. They have lived by the sword, and no doubt will die by it. And no paradise awaits them, as long as they continue in thrall to death.

Since death appears to be their god, they can expect to be sent to its altar.