Saddam the bad man

Saddam the bad man has gone. Narcissist, psychopath, national leader, mass murderer. Except for the last description, he doesn’t differ too much from some other world leaders, past and present. Perhaps even then, it depends on your definition of mass murderer. Is a narcissistic psychopath leading a nation sicker if he kills with his bare hands or orders directly than the one who does so indirectly, well aware of the consequences, well skilled in the cover up?

And if this is what narcissistic mass murdering psychopaths deserve then what of those in jails around the world? Perhaps we’d cheer as much if we could just send them to Iraq to face the same - rendition - yes, that’s the word.

And we could go further, what of the narcissistic, mass murdering psychopaths who kill animals but don’t kill humans. Perhaps we can send them too, ah, the crowds go wild, I can just hear them at the Colosseum.

Why stop there? Why not send those who simply scared their torture victims witless, leaving those who survived to live their lives in hide and seek with hidden addresses, exiled from their own countries, dancing with PTSD, sometimes hiding in addiction, and spending decades working to pay shrinks to undo the damage with everything from hypnotherapy to drugs. Send in the lions. We have some fresh meat for them and entertainment to be had on our dinner time news, just in time to shout Happy New Year.

Bring out our holy books and pray that these people are the only vessels of evil in a world of hope and salvation. For if not, perhaps the evil is that they become leaders, teachers, priests, lovers, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, with opportunities others gave them or, yet others, didn’t have the guts to take away from them.

Those who are paid by them, in money, favors or popularity, those who enable them by remaining their inner circle or too hooked on co-dependency or confidante roles to run for their lives. Do you not feel just a little tainted?

But, of course, perhaps I’m merely jaded. Maybe I’ve seen the everyday psychopath get away with murder and nobody talked, nobody took them away and I didn’t get to cheer.