Okay, I admit it, I was pretty happy that the centerpiece of the current reign of terror was ushered into the netherworld. That it was at the hands of a Navy Seal, a well-placed missile or by falling down the stairs would not have made a whole lot of difference to me. I am just relieved to know that there is one less misguided mind plotting horrific acts of murder.

That he was eliminated does not trouble me a whole lot. Like C.S. Lewis, I subscribe to the principle of “just desserts”.

And I know that this confession will have a lot of my tenderhearted friends in the blogesphere howling in disbelief and digging around for scriptures to quote. “How can you possibly match Christ’s demand that we “love our enemies” with the action of unloading lead into their skull?” they shall ask.

I may be very alone in this thought, but I have no problem believing that one can love another human being with all the depth of Christ’s love and at the same time pull the trigger on him (or perhaps her).

To get to this conclusion all I have to do is to think… about my own self.

I think it is fair to say that I love myself.  But…if for some reason I became so dark and so demented that I plotted and carried out the murder of thousands of innocent people I would consider it an act of love if someone put a bullet through my brain. I would welcome, even at the cost of my life, someone stopping me from getting more blood on my hands. I can see how they could hunt me down and put an end to me in pure love for me and for those who I may harm if I were allowed to continue.

But I can only say this because I am not that dark and demented.

It would be something like Old Yeller.

“Old Yeller” was a syrupy Disney film made in the late 50’s about a wonderful dog that, in the process of saving his master from a rabid animal, was bit and contracted rabies himself.

The heart wrenching part of the movie for me as a kid was watching the dilemma of this beloved and heroic dog, now reduced to a snarling, foaming and crazed animal, being shot to death by his loved one.

Sadly, some human beings, if not quite Old Yeller noble, were once sweet children or goofy teenagers who have, in adulthood, become rabid with evil.

Hitler who reportedly was kind to animals and his personal staff had a severe case of rabid evil. Ditto for Stalin and a host of others whose lives demonstrated cruel homicidal insanity and who were responsible for the carnage of innocent humans on a massive scale. Few would have winced if they came to an abrupt and premature end.

Old Yeller comes to mind not only for the big mass murdering types. It comes into play with the friend who it turns out is cheating on his wife and pleads with me to keep quiet or even worse to somehow affirm him because he has:

a. Suddenly found his true soul mate

b. Is finally joyously happy

c. And has come to the conclusion that all of this is somehow okay with God (because of course God wants him to be happy)

Nope. My pal is rabid with sin. He isn’t making any sense, his logic is foaming with contradiction, nonsense and wishful thinking.

Off I go straight to his wife. I will put a big hole of truth into the middle of this tryst knowing full well that I may lose his friendship, cause his secret happy world to implode and set the stage for exceptional pain all around.

I spill the beans because of love, for him, for his wife and for the other woman.

But I do it knowing that it will hurt and maybe kill relationships.

And I do it knowing that if I found myself in the same situation as my friend, it would be an act of love for me to be ratted out.

But in the end, my philandering friend is dealing in the minor leagues of cold heartedness.

I remember as a six-year-old kid crying because they had to shoot Old Yeller. Even then I knew it had to be done.

But then Old Yeller had given his life to save the family and he deserved my childhood tears.

Architects of mass murder who are extinguished merely get a deep glad sigh of relief at their passing…or maybe even a burst of joy.