This morning, we saw the release of a terrorist responsible for bombing an airliner and murdering 270 people on ‘compassionate’ grounds.  Al-Megrahi has been diagnosed with a terminal cancer and physicians have told him to expect only 3 more months of life.

The commentariat has been abuzz about the controversy surrounding the release, focusing on the grief of the victims’ families.  Megrahi didn’t show compassion to those he murdered, so why should we be compassionate towards him, the reasoning goes.

Compassion isn’t supposed to be easy, though.  If we do what’s easy, that’s what we’re expected to do — that’s not compassion.  But how do we decide who is deserving of our compassion?  Is Megrahi sorry for what he did?  Or is he just facing the inevitability of death we should all expect?

Certainly the hero’s welcome he received when returning home to Libya was disgusting, but we don’t get to condition our compassion and everyone is free to respond however they choose.

I not sure whether Megrahi was deserving of his release or if he should have been released, but these are some of the questions I’ve been asking today.