Though Justice Be Thy Plea, Consider This:

I'm currently binge-watching the last few episodes of ABC's How To Get Away With Murder in anticipation of the new season coming up.  Gosh I love this show.  It's truly a guilty pleasure of mine. Viola Davis is everything.

© ABC Network

Then my brain starts working in overtime, and all of these words and phrases start spinning through my mind:

guilty pleasure

get away with murder

guilt...

punishment that fits the crime

consequences

get away with...

I don't reference Shakespeare as often as my blog title would suggest.  But The Merchant of Venice (TMOV) is, hands down, in my top-three all-time favorites of his works.  As a student, I was tickled that I could understand it all on my own cognizance.  As an educator, I was pleased that its themes of friendship, justice, wealth, racial stereotypes and mercy were truly timeless and resonated with so many of my students.  As an adult I have so many real-world people who play the parts of the characters - a rotating cast, if you will.

Al Pacino as Shylock 2004 © 2004 Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc.

In TMOV, several characters are forced to face the consequences of their choices.   There are superfluous decisions like elopement, moral dilemmas over usury and semi-gambling, and even grand theft larceny.  The character of Shylock -- at once a small-claims court plaintiff -- attempts to get away with murder claiming "justice" served (think a bad check writer being sentenced to Lethal Injection), but his plan is foiled in a most ironic way.  Though he professes to stand on the letter of the law, Shylock reveals quite clearly that his real motive has nothing to do with right or wrong, justice or injustice, but with his desire to destroy another human being.  How often do we, too, use good intentions as our excuse to be unusually cruel or condescending on our fellow peers?

Everyday I see inconsistencies in life.  I see drivers receiving speeding tickets as I (wrongfully) drive 15 mph over the limit past the scene.  I hear about good, well-meaning people being laid off from their jobs while I receive pitifully poor customer service from a lacksidasical employee.  Or I hear of people charged with crimes being punished completely differently based on the strength of their lawyers and/or the socioeconomic background within which they exist.  It just doesn't seem fair!  It doesn't seem right.  I was having this very conversation with a close friend yesterday.  We were saying things such as "(s)he hasn't learned a d@mn thing!"..."(s)he will eventually get what's coming." "The system played favorites instead of doing what it's supposed to do."  Are we right?  And more importantly, do we have the right to feel that way?  I am neither judge nor jury to my peers.  I am simply a person who has lived a life full of choices, mistakes, retribution, lessons, growth, improvement.  Aren't we all?

I think the big picture is consequence, and the most important outcome is growth and/or change.  As Christians we are called to follow the law of the land, but only until the law contradicts with how Jesus taught us to live.  Jesus didn't just say "You who are innocent throw the first stone," He also said "Go and sin no more".  He recognized us as sinful people and He openly said that we had to die (completely change our ways and our desires) before we could live forever.   It isn't up to me to decide whether a person is sorrowful or remorseful.  But it is my duty to live the best version of my life in accordance with what will help me gain entrance into Heaven and to hold others accountable when they are failing in the same area.

Crime and punishment, despite being inherent in a person's mind and soul, is processed in the most errantly human way possible.  So there will always be episodes of the system getting it wrong.  There will be times when one person must give that entire pound of flesh -- blood and all -- and another simply has to feel the prick of the knife before being saved.   Again, I am not judge or jury and I have no desire to be.  But I have made mistakes, I have overcome bad choices, and I will be happy to share my lessons with you.  After you serve your punishment -- however large or small, cruel or cautious it may be.

What do you think about crime and punishment?  Have we become a revenge-hungry body of people?  Why does it always seem that money and/or power triumphs Lady Justice's scales?  What's more important: that the guilty pay or that we - who are all guilty of something - seek self improvement in order to be a beacon of strength and hope to others?

Hit me up in the comments.  And be nice!

Forgiveness vs. Justice...Have Mercy!

"The quality of mercy is not strained,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown;

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;

But mercy is above this sceptred sway,

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God's,

When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,

Though justice be thy plea, consider this,

That in the course of justice none of us

Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render

The deeds of mercy."

The Merchant of Venice Act IV, Scene I

Seriously, what is wrong with the world today?  You don't have to look far to find someone whose life will never be the same because of some unexplainable horror.  The 8- and 10-year-old Iowa cousins who are missing; the families of the victims, the traumatized survivors and the family of the alleged shooter in the Denver Movie Massacre; the victims, their families and the family of the alleged shooter in the Tuscaloosa, AL bar shooting...Then there are the sewing needles found in airplane food; a bomb threat here in my local area; an ex-police officer wanted in my local area for shooting a woman; it goes on and on and on.  I can't watch TV right now unless it's Nick Jr. or Disney and not just because my kids have total control of viewing.  Also because if I insist on watching the news, I would have to explain some real hard information to my son who misses nothing!  I'm not ready for him to leave that bubble of innocence yet.

As I sit in a dark house watching my innocent son sleep off a nasty virus, I cannot help but quietly reflect on sinners, tragedy, revenge, forgiveness, mercy, grace, trauma, horror, healing, and restitution. Is there any action that cannot be forgiven? Is there any wrong that cannot be righted? Again, for everyone involved in the nightmares mentioned above life will never, ever be the same. But does different always equal worse? And if not, how vehemently must we demand justice? When making the guilty pay, how, exactly, does one define "just"?

My word is not the be-all, end-all since I am neither politician nor preacher. Crime and punishment is established and enforced by our legal justice system. Beyond that, however, is our own ability to forgive and show mercy to the guilty. Today a "death penalty" of sorts was issued to Penn State University's athletics program and that reopened the horrors we all felt at the revelation of what happened behind closed locker room doors.  What went on at Penn State is inexcusable and unimaginable.  I am glad Sandusky is serving his punishment and can only hope Paterno sought God's grace before his death.  I have a hard time understanding why some key personnel involved are still employed by the University.   Yet the years of pensions, loss of scholarships, the seemingly excessive fine of $60 million proves what, exactly?  That a pound of flesh can be extracted without ending the life of an educational institution?  I would never try to undermine the helpless terror of what the young victims experienced and most likely still live with.  But this seemingly revenge-filled punishment doesn't take that away, either.  It changes nothing of the past and affects the future of persons who truly had nothing to do with this.

When we first started hearing the name James Holmes, I thought, let's tie him up and let wild animals have their way with him.  When we first started hearing this could be a death penalty case, I remembered the scene in [spoiler alert] The Green Mile where the one guy was electrocuted without a wet sponge and literally fried in that chair.  But demanding similar "justice" from Holmes would change nothing of what happened early Friday morning.  It does not bring back the lives of those 12 and it does not erase the permanent horrific memories of the 100's of others who were there that night.  Should someone -- likely Holmes himself -- be held responsible?  Absolutely.  Please do not misunderstand what I am suggesting. 

I go back to what Portia said in The Merchant of Venice and I take poetic license to paraphrase it.  When you are able to show mercy on someone who has wronged you in anyway, not only are you blessing that guilty party, but you are blessing yourself with a Christlike mentality of forgiveness.  We all want justice for anything that makes us feel violated; even the trivial ant who bites us is more often squashed than flicked away.  I believe in crime and punishment.  But I also know I am called to offer forgiveness and show mercy, gentility, and humility to others.  It sounds like quite the paradox.  Yet today I challenge myself to show more mercy to all in hopes it is someday shown to me.

*Author's note: if you cannot tell by the title of this blog, I am a lover of Shakespearean literature.  If you have never read The Merchant of Venice, I encourage you to do so.  Timeless doesn't begin to vocalize its relevance to today's society of religious and racial hatred and stereotyping, terrorism, and capitalism.