LITTLE ROCK — "I'm alone. My whole family is gone." That was the cry of anguish from Dr. Sudhakar Dixit in 1988 when he lost his parents, his sister and her two young children in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland.
He had last seen his family members at his wedding in India. Dixit, a graduate of Wright State University medical school, had returned home earlier to complete his residency at a Cleveland hospital. His bride remained in India to receive clearance to immigrate to the United States.
Today he is an obstetrician/gynecologist practicing in California, and he has a family again-Sandhya, his wife of 20 years, and two teenage children, the oldest of whom is about to start college.
The teenagers never met their grandparents-respected Central State University professor Om Dixit and his wife Shanti, both 54-but they know about their legacy. They know about their 29-year-old aunt, Garima Rattan, and her children, 3-year-old Suruchi Rattan and 2-year-old Anmol Rattan, all victims of the bombing.
"They were very religious, God-fearing, very compassionate people and I have tried to pass that on to my children," Dixit said. "My father was a scholar of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. It's ironic he would die from such an act of violence."
Unlike many of the surviving families, Dixit isn't angered by the Scottish government's release last week of convicted Pan Am bomber Abdel Baset Ali Megrahi on "compassionate grounds."
"The first few years I was very angry, but over time I became focused on my family and my family's future," Dixit said. "I don't know all the details, but I am ready to accept the decision of the Scottish government."
The government showed compassion to Megrahibecause he is said to be dying of cancer. But other survivors see nothing compassionate about Megrahi's release, which has brought fresh pain to the families of his 270 victims.
Doug Malicote, 22, and his wife Wendy, 21, were on their way home to Lebanon, Ohio, from Doug's Army base in Germany to celebrate the holidays-and their fourth wedding anniversary-with their families. The high school sweethearts married shortly after they graduated from Lebanon High School in 1984.
"We didn't want her to be married that young," recalled Wendy's mother, Marline Forsythe, "but they were just determined to be together."
After the crash, the thoroughness and thoughtfulness of the Scottish investigators impressed Forsythe: "They assured us that even though they don't have the death penalty or even life sentences, he would never get out of prison," she said.
Now, as footage airs throughout the world of the terrorist's return to his native Libya, Forsythe says disgustedly, "This evil man is being given a hero's welcome."
She added: "We always knew that it was much broader in scope and that others were involved, but at least they got somebody. Wendy is still gone, but we always felt somebody should pay for this."
In the end, it seemed, only the families paid.
Doug Malicote didn't live out his dream of an Army career; Wendy isn't there at the holidays to be "generous to a fault," the girl who would part with her last nickel.
It's a bizarre form of compassion, indeed, that would cut short the sentence of a man who showed not an ounce of compassion for 270 fellow human beings-10 of them children. Two of the victims were 2 months old.
-
———◊-
———
Mary McCarty writes for the Dayton Daily News.
Editorial, Pages 18 on 08/29/2009