Hanging Saddam - A small lesson learned

I will leave it to others to draw the larger conclusions about the hanging of Saddam Hussein. I haven't much to say about his passing, but I did learn something about Amy Carter as a result.

Way back when, her father, Jimmy Carter - President at the time - quoted her as saying that she felt the largest problem in her thirteen year old world was "nuclear weaponry - and the control of nuclear arms." Many people, myself included, scoffed. How could a child that age see beyond her Barbie dolls to the problems of the adult world? President Daddy was making political hay at his daughters expense. Shame, shame!

Fast forward to the present - I have a nine year old daughter, and she has an opinion about Saddam Hussein. She understands that he killed innocent people in horrible ways, but says that it was wrong to execute him. When I asked why, she said it violates the constitutional prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishment." How about that? She put her finger on the core issue of the death penalty debate.

My kid is no prodigy. She does OK in school, but can't keep her room clean and fights incessantly with her little sister. However, once in a while she will come out with a question that shows she has her eyes open to what's going on with the adults, and thinks about it.

We had a serious chat about the death penalty, and I found that topic to be easier than when she asked about tax cuts. If you want to test your command of a subject, explain it to a child!

I guess I owe Amy Carter an apology. We can see today the looming threat of nuclear proliferation. It's not so unreasonable that a President's daughter in 1980 might see it too.

Besides, grown ups aren't the only ones who worry about the world we are leaving to our children.