It Comes in Threes: Violence, Justice, Restoration

ONE:
An afternoon chat with some fine, edu-ma-cated friends, and the discussion of violence came up. That and the objectification of women - though not necessarily in conjunction. The discussion was whether or not the two should be eradicated (again, as their own separate entities) from the face of the earth, and how this would be done.

One of my friends argued for the fundamental shift in how we perceive the world. Instead of saying, "this is the way the world is and it won't change; all we can do is survive it to the best of our abilities," he argued that we should instead perceive a violence-free world, or a world where women are treated with equality, as being wholly possible. In that perception lies the means to change.

I argued that however offensive certain aspects of human nature are - and by Christ there are plenty to be disgusted at - they are in fact necessary to our sense of outrage, our sense of longing (for something better) and pursuit, our desire for social justice. A world void of evil means a world void of its antithesis - and in that tension lies what it means to be a person.

Both arguments are flawed. I'm not willing to follow my own argument to its darkest conclusion, and that makes it difficult to defend. The "nothing is impossible" argument needs work in defining how it can apply to ideals.

And yet, I find myself compelled more by my friend's argument than my own at times.

TWO:
Three stories I encountered today.

First, in the news, a twenty-six-year-old, meth-smoking Mom shoots her kids and then herself, after arguing with her husband. The kids were 17 months and three. Prior to doing this, she records herself on her iPad smoking meth.

Second, my MMA coach posts a video of a group of Chicago youths beating the shit out of an Asian kid. Coach posted the video in outrage, and to impress upon his class the importance of not being a victim. The beating is merciless, the youths taunting the vitcim with N***er (yeah, that makes a lot of sense), stomping kicking, punching him over and over. PLUS, they film themselves doing it.

Third, I finish training tonight and casually chat with another member, a female who, for all tenses and purposes, comes from a rough side of the tracks. She talks blue and tough, but is a softy. You can sense it. She also revealed today that she was curb stomped by her own mother several years ago, and that this same mother thought it funny to plunge a knife through her daughter's hand, into the kitchen table. Her voice is light when she speaks of this and I've never felt so foreign in my entire life.

THREE:
My gut reaction is revenge. Retribution is such an easy response. Good riddance to Meth-Mom, the gang of kids should have their asses kicked in kind, the girls parents ought to be locked up forever. I feel it. I really do. But I wonder now, how retribution amounts to anything of value. The little kids and the mother are still dead, the young Asian lad beaten and traumatized, the girl from the gym still bears those permanent wounds of a childhood void of love. It would appease my own outrage, sure, but that's about it.

I remember an Old Testament class I took over fifteen years ago, in the days of Bible School and black and white morality (neither of which I adhere to much any more). In the class, my teacher talked of restorative justice. You heard me, restorative justice in an Old Testament class. I don't remember how he made the connections; too many years have gone past. His tone, however, has always stayed with me. He implored us that morning, of the importance of restoring a balance between victim and perpetrator, that God's entire structure for mankind was one of restoration. How he reconciled Old Testament verses with this, I don't recall. I doubt it's even possible to do so.

But it still strikes a chord, all these years later. The idea of forgiveness trumping retribution. That love, in its myriad of facets, can somehow spark a deeper revolution than violence.