Hate is going on in this world and it has to stop. Hate causes a lifetime of pain.
Those are among the final words of Mark Stroman, who was executed last night by the state of Texas.
Ten days after 9/11, Stroman began a shooting spree to kill as many Muslims as he could. On three separate nights he opened fire with a shotgun at Dallas gas stations - killing two Muslim men and shooting a third in the face. That third victim, Rais Bhuiyan survived but will be partially blind for the rest of his life.
Rais Bhuiyan fought to stop Stroman's execution because his religion preaches forgiveness. Bhuyian launched a worldwide petition to have Stroman's life sentence commuted to life without parole. The effort to stop the execution did not succeed but Mark Stroman took notice of Rais Bhuyian's compassion and, in a message to Bhuyian from jail, said:
In the free world, I was free but I was locked in a prison inside myself because of the hate I carried in my heart...It is due to Rais' message of forgiveness that I am more content now than I have ever been.
Then last night, Strohman's final words were as follows:
Hate is going on in this world and it has to stop. Hate causes a lifetime of pain.