Terrorist gets chance no victims received
Ten years ago, my husband and I attended a convocation for 35 of Syracuse University's "best and brightest" students, blown out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, while returning home from a semester studying abroad in 1988.
Our son, a senior then, was being recognized as one of 35 Remembrance Scholars annually chosen to represent the memory of each of the students who died aboard Pan Am 103.
As proud as we were of our son for receiving the University's highest distinction, we also shared the profound grief of the parents who attend this convocation year after year to meet those who will help keep their child's memory alive.
They wear buttons with photos of their children frozen in time, stolen from them along with their dreams of what might have been. There was no chance for goodbyes and few remains for burial.
These memories came rushing back to me when I learned that the terminally ill bomber responsible for the murders was being released from a Scottish prison after serving only eight years of a life sentence. He returned home to Libya to a hero's welcome commemorating his cowardly act of terrorism.
He will live out his remaining days surrounded by family and friends, a kindness he did not afford his victims and does not deserve.
Sheryl Jedlinski
Palatine