Murder most unfathomable

Sometimes spine-chilling things happen at the most unexpected times.  Ninesh was in London this week, visiting his dad in hospital. My father-in-law is just recovering from major surgery and Ninesh was sitting next to his bed, chatting quietly when the hallway outside the door suddenly filled with policemen armed with machine guns. As Ninesh and his dad watched, a young man, handcuffed to a wheelchair was pushed past the door.

" Who's that?" asked Ninesh.

" One of the Woolwich murder suspects," whispered the nurse... " did you see. He looked straight at me."

For a moment, no one could speak. What is there to say when an alleged murderer, who just a week ago might have stood in the street, in the middle of the day hacking someone to death, passes your door.

There are no words. 

Just raw fear

It is impossible to fathom what drives someone to commit the cold-blooded murder of an innocent man.  
It is easy to blame religion, to accuse Muslim preachers of rousing followers to hatred.
It's always easier when we have someone to blame.
But there is never one reason that causes individuals to act in the way they do.
It is never that simple. 
We are, all of us, complicated products of confusing pasts and our reaction to the here and now is always part of a bigger picture. In these times of unemployment and economic crisis there are many disenfranchised people wandering the streets feeling that their existence is pointless, that their life has no meaning - no job, no money, no reason to get up in the morning, nothing to make you believe that you matter.  Easy prey for extremists whose passionate words can fill the emptiness inside with meaning and a sense of purpose.  As young black men living in England, the alleged murderers will probably have spent their lives feeling like outsiders.  However multi-cultural and open-minded 
(superficially at least) the country we live in might be, our colour and ethnic background will always define us. Even as he was being charged with murder, Michael Adebalejo, described himself as a "British citizen," as though by being suspected of committing such an unforgivable atrocity he had at last proved that he belonged.
There is no defence, no justification for the murder of an innocent man. The fact that someone can stand in the middle of a street in broad daylight and proudly hack a man to death is the stuff of horror movies, except that it happened in Woolwich. Perhaps the murderer was mad, it is not the action of a sane man, perhaps he truly believed he was doing it in the name of his religion, perhaps it was the moment that his whole life had been leading up to. It is hard to believe that as he was pushed along the corridor of a London hospital, handcuffed to a wheelchair, the suspect felt fulfilled. 
There is a difference between faith and religion, a difference between extremism and quiet belief.  But until we can give the disenfranchised and disillusioned a sense of purpose, until they rediscover their self-esteem, it will continue to be easy for extremism to fill the gap and give their life meaning.

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

 Steven Weinberg-1933

 Lee Rigby's family's request for peace, for  people to remain calm and not to allow his dmurder to be the excuse for racist attacks and religious unrest, is the greatest and most courageous tribute they could have paid to him.

Nothing can bring him back.  

Nothing can justify his death. 

Let building bridges and growing understanding be his legacy.

Lee Rigby  RIP