For some people, violence is the answer to every problem.
Somebody looks at you the wrong way or says the wrong thing? For some, the only legitimate response is to beat them to a pulp.
Somebody bismirches family honour? Pretty soon, the threats will follow, and all involved will agree they deserved it.
To withhold judgement until truth has been established or wait for the full facts to emerge is seen as weakness.
No, the first response is to act harshly in rage, to teach the other party a lesson they won’t forget, no questions asked.
It doesn’t matter if our interlocutor is an unreliable witness, liable to leading others astray.
Thump first, ask questions later, regardless of the lifechanging impact of those actions.
Who amongst us would remember in the heat of the moment the reported advice of the best of us?
The strong person is not the one who overcomes the people by his strength, but the one who controls himself in anger.
What does it take not to raise your fists? To pursue a civil resolution? To not threaten to snap another’s spine? To sit down for mediation?
What does it take to strive for peace? To act with mercy? To be forgiving and contrite? To turn away from one’s rage to pursue justice through legal routes?
Surely, only the reformative impulse of a reforming faith in practice, which forbids vigilante justice or the application of the law without due process.
Surely, only such a faith brought to life in our lives.
Last modified: 29 July 2024
