Posted on 01/28/2006 8:49:33 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
case of mercy versus justiceBy Paul PratherHERALD-LEADER CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST
The Jewish prophet Micah said this: "And what does the lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
That statement seems as pertinent today, and as complicated, as it must have sounded several thousand years ago.
We're at war with terrorists who intend to destroy us. We deal daily with less dangerous, but infuriating, annoyances: self- serving politicians, crooked business partners, drug users, crabby spouses.
Meanwhile, God requires us to demonstrate justice, mercy and humility -- all at the same time. So how do we decide when to pursue true justice, which might involve, say, punishing a wrongdoer? How do we know when to show mercy instead? Why should we walk humbly in making these choices?
Justice clearly is a biblical, historical and contemporary concept. Actions, good or bad, should have appropriate consequences. An eye for an eye. If you do the crime, you do the time. Promote the diligent, and demote the lazy.
Yet we have to admit that we ourselves often have fallen short of ideal behavior. And when we mess up, we beg to be pardoned.
Justice is what we want for others; for ourselves we crave mercy.
Maybe that's why Micah mentions humility among these other two qualities.
I've read several books that deal with the Civil War's final months and aftermath.
At the time Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his troops at Appomattox Courthouse, many Northern officials felt that Lee, Jefferson Davis and others had committed treason. They held Lee and Davis directly responsible for a four-year conflagration that had killed 600,000 Americans. Not unreasonably, they bellowed for justice, which to them meant that senior Confederates, once captured, ought to be hanged.
Instead, when he received Lee's surrender, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant treated Lee with incredible respect. Grant released Lee, had his Union soldiers salute their defeated foes and even allowed Southern officers to keep their horses, which Grant knew they'd need for spring plowing after they'd returned to their ravaged farms. Many Northerners were appalled. Lee himself never forgot Grant's mercy.
After the war Lee became president of Washington College in Lexington, Va., a hotbed of Confederate veterans. As Charles Bracelen Flood tells it in Lee: The Last Years, a faculty member once let fly some "scathing words" about Grant.
"Sir," Lee said, "if you ever again presume to speak disrespectfully of General Grant in my presence, either you or I will sever his connection with this university."
In the post-war South, Lee became the leading voice for full allegiance to the federal government, partly because of the kindness Grant had shown him and his men.
That's the power of mercy. Justice wants the rebel hanged. Mercy wants him reconciled. Justice often leaves enemies seething with a deeper hatred than they felt before being punished. Mercy makes friends of former enemies.
I think Grant was led to be merciful by his own profound sense of humility.
Until the Civil War, he'd failed at nearly everything. He'd suffered as the son of an overbearing father. He'd been forced from the army in the 1850s for alcoholism. He'd gone broke and been reduced to delivering firewood for a living.
Even as a commanding general, Grant appears not to have possessed overt confidence in his personal abilities or goodness. That's probably why, when his enemies' fates fell into his hands, Grant extended kindness.
Clearly, there's a place for justice.
Still, the deciding factor in whether justice or mercy will be shown in a particular situation often comes down to the humility of the person making the decision.
If I understand anything about human nature, it's that all people are flawed and silly. Sad to say, a lot of people don't recognize how pathetic they truly are, and thus hurry to pass harsh judgments on everybody else.
Humility, though, produces mercy more often than it produces punishment. When there's a question about which is more appropriate, the humble -- those who, like Grant, have seen their frailties and barely recovered from the sight -- veer toward charity.
Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."
We might with equal accuracy turn that statement around: "Blessed are those who have needed mercy, for they are apt to show it."
For cancer, no mercy.
For islamists, no mercy.
I once knew a Priest who cautioned us not to pray for justice becuase we may get it. He told us to pray instead for mercy.
Good article. Thanks for posting this.
No quarter for jihadi numbskulls!
Mercy comes on the heels of unconditional surrender. Prior to that time, its own special brand of tough-love.
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