We All Knew He Was Guilty But It Was Important for Them to Say It

Dzokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty on all 30 counts yesterday.

His lawyers knew he was guilty. Boston knew he was guilty. The surviving victims and their families, as well as the families of the fallen knew he was guilty. His deranged supporters, on some level, probably knew he was guilty. He knew he was guilty.

The defense of his lawyers was that Dzokhar was coerced into terrorism by his older brother, Tamerlan, and that the bombings would not have taken place without Tamerlan, as Dzokhar played a minor role.

When I was in kindergarten, I was one of the kids that was too cool to sleep during nap time. One day, my friend asked me to cut her hair during nap time, and like a good friend, I did. She started crying after the fact and if memory serves me correctly, we both got sent home early for the day, and I was suspended for 3 days. When we got home, I got my ass whooped, despite the fact that it wasn’t my idea to cut that girl’s hair.

I was 5.

Dzokhar and I are the same age. He’s 21 now and he was 19 at the time of the bombings. By the time I was 19 I was more than aware that wrong was wrong and right was right, no matter who you were, where you were from, or why you were doing it.

Dzokhar may very well have been troubled. That Monday in April may have turned out differently if it weren’t for his older brother. But Dzokhar was not a captive. He made a choice. He chose hate. He chose cowardice. He chose evil. And the choices he made led to a week of destruction and misery for the people of Boston, and nothing will ever change that.

The jury’s decision is important not only for the peace of mind of the victims and their families, not only for justice, not only for the people that still wake up in cold sweats and can’t walk down Boylston street without being haunted by memories of explosions and flying limbs, but for the principle.

We all have problems, we all have struggles and we all have pasts. But your sob story is not and never will be an excuse.

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