“To spend my life in anger and resentment would be another victory for you, and one I chose not to give. I will hold my head up high and I will enjoy the time you were unable to take from me. The best revenge is to live well.”

— Emily Lyons, the nurse injured in a Birmingham blast set off by Eric Rudolph

A federal judge sentenced Eric Rudolph to two consecutive life sentences July 18 during a sentencing hearing in a Birmingham courtroom, putting the insolent homegrown terrorist behind bars forever. Given the opportunity to confront her attacker in court, the defiant words from Emily Lyons hopefully robbed Rudolph of some of the pleasure he seems to be taking from his time in the limelight.

Lyons was seriously injured in the blast at the Birmingham abortion clinic that also killed an off-duty police officer. She lost her left eye in the blast and has undergone more than 20 surgeries. Rudolph pled guilty in April to the Birmingham blast, one at the Atlanta Olympics that killed a spectator and two more Atlanta bombings — one at an abortion clinic and another at a gay-lesbian nightclub.

During the Birmingham hearing, Lyons said she wanted to make sure the former Army explosives expert realized that he had “failed.”

“Do I look afraid? You damaged my body, but you did not create the fear you sought,” she said.

That kind of response — to carry on with life despite the blood-crazed intentions of a madman who killed innocent people— has become a recurring answer to terrorism. When simultaneous bombs ripped through London recently, city-dwellers who were back on the subway the next day echoed the same kind of response — to give in to the killers and stay home would give them just what they want. The Iraqis who continue to go about their lives despite the horrible suicide bombings in that country are of the same ilk.

Rudolph was talked about as some kind of folk anti-hero soon after his capture because he eluded authorities for so many years. But the nature of his savage crimes and his twisted mind have revealed him to be, at best, just what Lyons called him — a monster.

“As I go to a prison cell for a lifetime I know that I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith,” said a remorseless Rudolph.

After the serial bomber’s August sentencing hearing for the Atlanta blasts, where he will get two more life sentences, he’ll be deprived forever of the stage he so desperately wanted. Good riddance.