I have a confession to make, and I'm gonna be honest.
You may not like me so much when you hear my admission.
In the Bible we learn the Lord says, "Vengeance is mine", and I have no doubt that's true.
But life frequently ain't fair, and if I find myself in certain scenarios I'm pretty sure I'll have to ask the Lord to forgive my sins.
Example One:
When I became Civil Defense Director of one of the fastest growing counties in the U.S., my office adjoined the office of the County Coroner. He had to come through my office to get to his.
He was a nice older man with a sometimes horrible, interesting job. He came to his office infrequently, so when he did we'd share a cup of coffee and chat about his job and mine. He'd sometimes share "interesting" death scenes or autopsy photos with me.
One morning we got into a discussion about a case that happened about a year before I was appointed Civil Defense Director. He pulled out a file with photos of a pretty 15 year old girl lying face-up on the floor in a pool of blood and told this story:
"She walked in the door of her neighborhood Confectionary to find a classmate brandishing a gun in the owner's face. She apparently said '********'! What are you doing?! And the perpetrator, knowing she had identified him, turned, shot and killed her, then shot the store owner. The store owner survived and later witnessed against him. The robber was 14 and had had a "difficult upbringing". He was sentenced to detention in a juvenile facility until he turned eighteen."
I thought, "How would I feel if that was my daughter? Was justice served?"
Example Two:
In Arizona recently a rancher was killed on his own property, apparently by an illegal immigrant.
This guy was known to give food and water to those that came to his door, so there's a question as to why anyone would shoot him. But residents of this area South of Tucson have been trying for some time now to draw attention to the seriousness of their situation...
Drug runners are now crossing their property regularly.
Their cattle are being killed.
Their property is being damaged... fences torn down... hazardous litter being left behind.
I thought, "If this guy was my father, my brother, my son... knowing the Obama administration's reaction to Arizona's new "1070" law, would I feel justice was being served?"
I may be more emotional about such things than most, and I know it's self-destructive to be angry about things over which I have virtually no control.
But in both the above cases I'm fearful of what I would do if it was me with a loved one dead under those circumstances.
I'm afraid at some point it would include my getting on my knees to say a little prayer at the end of the day:
"Lord, please forgive me for I have sinned."
4 comments:
The patience of some of these people whose loved ones have been murdered in such reprehensible ways...They are true patriots who wait out the system for justice and sometimes don't get it due to a systemic flaw. I am in the same boat as you - I would be hard pressed to be so patient. Wrote about one such instance:
http://lindalenzentreiber.blogspot.com/2009/09/monster-among.html
I would have no patience with it.
Got your six. Just call "Hey Rube".
Sometimes patience is a virtue, but not always.
I am not sure what all the crap is about the AZ. law. it is much more lenient than the Federal law.]
With the federal law, officers can stop you anytime for anything and without provocation.
It is very easy to judge the people in Az. for wanting control of the border, but not very fair, until you walk in their shoes.
My heart goes out to the rancher's family. Here was a man that fed and watered the people coming onto his property. Totally senseless death.
When we lived in San Diego, I worked with many Mexicans and they were getting paid a very fair wage and still raping our social system. Coming here under one name and filing under their mother's name. When asked why do they do this, I was told, "because we can."
Enough said.
There was already rumblings from many of them of bringing all the people they could over and basically taking Ca. back....
Each person I worked with, was working two jobs, wore nice clothes, lived in nice apts. going to school to learn English Free. Having their children free in a great hospital and still receiving checks of almost $1000 each. They proudly took them out of their billfolds to show me. This was in the late 80's and early 90's. I wonder how much they are getting now?
And Ca. wonders why they are broke. Well duh.
I have always wondered about such things.
At my advanced age, now, however, I know that if I were placed in those situations there would be a price to pay. Because now, I wouldn't much care about my own life any more.
There literally isn't much you can do against someone who is willing to give up their life in order to take another's.
BZ
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