How much better a figure does the
philosopher make so conducting himself as to deem worthy of forgiveness anyone
who wrongs him, than to behave as if ready to defend himself with legal
procedure and indictments, while in reality he is behaving in an unseemly
manner and acting quite contrary to his own teaching.
To be sure he says that a good
man can never be wronged by a bad man; but nevertheless, he draws up an
indictment as having been wronged by bad men, while claiming to be accounted a
good man himself.
A thoughtful
fellow I once knew suggested that I could get a good sense of what most people
cared for by what they were willing to pay for it.
It wasn’t
the noble speeches of the politicians, or the sentimental soundbites in the
advertising, or the impassioned stories in the media that told us all about the
world’s priorities: in which direction was the cash flowing?
I
remember rolling my eyes, asking if this meant that medicine and law were what
we all wanted the most.
“Exactly!
People want to live forever, and people want to get back at the other people who
rub them the wrong way.”
I may
not have shared his intense social outrage about it all, but he made a good
point. There I was, earning less than minimum wage for my time as a teacher, in
all of my salaried glory, and my classmates who had gone to law school were
charging for every minute they thought about a case while sitting on the can.
And how
we enjoy going to court. We have a disagreement, and we get stubborn, and so we
file a lawsuit.
We look down
with disgust at the fellow who made a critically bad choice at exactly the
wrong time, and we wish for the state to lock him up for life, or maybe even
kill him, while we wave signs of our own hatred outside of his prison.
I know
full well that I must pay for my mistakes, in all sorts of ways; I am doing so
right now, and I will do so for as long as I live.
If I can
recognize that within myself, why would I still insist on hurting those who
have hurt me? Is justice about my own lust for satisfaction, or might it be
about offering others a chance for redemption?
Love, mercy,
and forgiveness are deeply wonderful things, because they look to the good of
the whole, not just to the profit of one part. They are not outside of justice,
but they are rather what perfects all of justice.
It will
be pointless, however, if I only speak such fine words from my mouth, while my
hands are busy writing a check for my lawyer.
If I
really believe that the content of character is the goal, then I will not waste
my time with the pursuit of vengeance.
If I am
really committed to the Socratic principle that no better man can be harmed by
any worse man, then I will learn to not take offense where there is no offense,
to reach out a hand instead of a fist.
Written in 10/1999
IMAGE: William Hogarth, The Bench (1758)
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