What is justice?

I actually wasn't going to post tonight but I read the news and saw the story of the murder of 19-year-old Kenia Monge.  This has been sort of a big story in Denver.  She disappeared at a club on March 31.  She gave a friend her purse, cell phone and keys, told her that she was going to the restroom and never came back.  A man, Travis Forbes, came forward and said that he saw her downtown, drunk, and offered her a ride.  They stopped a gas station because she wanted cigarettes and, according to him, she ended up walking off with a different guy.  Forbes went on the news and talked about it and the guilt he felt over letting her leave.  Unsurprisingly, since he was the last confirmed person with her, he became a person of interest.  But there wasn't enough evidence to charge him with anything so he went free and the case of Kenia Monge languished.  Maybe it didn't really languish but it dropped off the media's radar.  That is, until the middle of July.  Travis Forbes was arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, arson, sexual assault and aggravated motor-vehicle theft in connection with a Fort Collins woman.  The media perked up a little bit again on Kenia Monge's case but when nothing was immediately forthcoming it again drifted from the public's attention. 

Yesterday the news reported that a body was found and suspected to belong to Kenia Monge.  According to the Denver Post an anonymous source said that Travis Forbes led the police to her body.  I don't have all the information and I don't want to jump to conclusions but it seems pretty likely that he killed her.  It seems plausible that there might have been others before her.  Certainly he was on his way to killing someone else.  My thoughts have less to do directly with this case specifically and are more philosophical.  It's easy to want his head.  But is it right?  This is a topic I struggle with addressing.  This type of discussion tends to be very vehement with the potential for a lot of name calling.  No name calling guys, seriously.  Reading comments on Denver Post's website there are many, many people who not only want him dead but want him tortured and raped before he gets a needle in him arm.  It doesn't seem right to me to wish that kind of evil on someone, even if they have committed tremendous evil.  I just don't think that we can let the savagery of one person turn us into savages.  However, that's difficult and if it were my child I'm not sure that I wouldn't want to exact a terrible revenge myself.  That being said, I don't think it's right to wish such terrible things on another person.  I think that we should strive to be better than the people who commit atrocities.  I don't know if that's possible.  Not get all Bible-ly on you guys but this brings to mind Paul's letter to the Romans: "Bless them that persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that rejoice: weep with them that weep.  Being of one mind one towards another.  Not minding high things, but consenting to the humble.  Be not wise in your own conceits.  To no man rendering evil for evil.  Providing good things, not only in the sight of God but also in the sight of all men.  If is be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men.  Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: Revenge is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.  But if the enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink.  For, doing this, you shall heap coals of fire upon his head.  Be not overcome by evil: but overcome evil by good." (Romans 12:14-21)  Or, in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him."  I'm not sure I could ever achieve my high-minded ideals if I suffered the brutal loss of someone I dearly loved, especially one of my children but I do want to keep the this belief in head as an ideal, however unattainable and unrealistic it might be in times of crisis. 

Take a minute to hold you kids, give them a kiss, tell them you love them.  And may your life be peaceful.