Aren’t we all Americans in the end?

Since the year 1916, 135 people have received the death penalty from the Army. The last military execution was in 1961, and there are currently nine more people on the military’s death row roster. Soon, there will be 10.

When I turn on the news and hear about our fallen soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is hard to fathom so many American lives being lost in ongoing wars with no clear end- point. It is even harder for me to fathom soldiers killed in a ruthless attack by a man who wore the same uniform as those I appreciate and admire so greatly.

Perhaps this is why the Ft. Hood massacre last week was so tragic. Unfortunately, we live in a world where senseless violence occurs regularly.

The workplace, schools and even shopping malls can turn into battlefields more dangerous than the ones our men and women in uniform see in the Middle East. The difference is that overseas, our enemy is more obvious.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged gunman at Ft. Hood, is crueler than Osama Bin Laden himself, for we know Bin Laden is outwardly America’s enemy. We are all American, despite our differences.

Just because we can’t all agree on what wars to fight, how much money our government should borrow or whether or not a public option in health care should exist doesn’t mean we can go on a shooting rampage and kill and harm dozens of people – especially the people who are willing to sacrifice their lives to protect this country.

Undoubtedly, people are going to make this attack about religion. Maj. Hasan is a Muslim man who apparently shouted “Allahu Akbar” (Arabic for “God is Great”) in the midst of killing American soldiers.

Frankly, the only thing he might have accomplished by that is going to be increased resentment toward Muslim Americans. It’s unfortunate that one radical guy has the power to alter these opinions toward an entire group of people. Had a Protestant, Catholic or even a Jew carried out this attack, the media would be responding to the Ft. Hood shooting differently.

Regardless of who you are and what you believe in, this senseless killing needs to stop. If you are so unhappy with your situation, find help. Don’t ruin other people’s lives in addition to yours.

Maj. Hasan will be found guilty and receive the death penalty. I’m not sure whether or not I am happy that he survived his wounds instead of dying next to the innocent lives he took away. What I do know is that the lethal injection the army uses to administer the death penalty is too easy an out for a man who deserves the cruelest and most unusual punishment imaginable for what he did.