My heart bleeds...

"Do you know what this is? Its the world's smallest violin playing just for [you]." --Mr. Pink, Resevoir Dogs

In case you missed it, over the weekend, five Somali pirates drowned after their boat capsized as they were taking off with their loot. It took two months for the ransom to be paid on the hijacked vessel Sirius Star, an oil supertanker coming from Saudi Arabia.

According to the story, "Abukar Haji, uncle of one of the dead pirates, blamed the naval surveillance for the accident that killed his pirate nephew Saturday." Also, in the local pirate port, where the local economy is apparently booming from the influx of stolen wealth, the lost pirates were mourned. "'Here in Haradhere the news is grim.'"

Well, excuse me if I'm not all broken up about this. As the familiar parental caution goes, "If you play with fire, you're going to get burned."

Now, truth be told, as a compassionate human being, I cannot help but feel saddened at the loss of any human life. The way I see it, each individual has the potential to be something positive to this world. In one way or another, each is a blank slate on which some productive history can be written. So when human life is lost, so is that potential.

But I feel no remorse that tragic ends came to criminals. Some, such as the pirate's uncle, would argue that his nephew had no choice. After all, Piracy seems to be the best way of making money in the broken Somali economy these days. It's no different than me coming to work as a manager each day. Except the inherent risks that I take in my day-to-day work do not include dying. When I signed up for my job, no one told me that I could be targeted by the world's most powerful militaries to account for my daily decisions.

Piracy? That's a different story. They know the life or death risks they take on a daily basis. I assume that's why they carry guns and use terror and fear as tactics in subduing their targets and forcing their demands to be met.

Of course, one could also think of piracy coming from a wrecked nation such as Somalia as a form of grievance-based violence, and therefore acceptable. After all, these people are oppressed and they have no other choice but to resort to violence against the oppressors.

Sorry, I ain't buying it. You play with fire, you'll get burned.