Justice Or Mercy?

If we were governed by the law  "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth",  most of us would be sipping our dinners through a straw while being led around by our seeing eye dog.   We have all murdered in one way or another.   Perhaps not with life ending bullets but at the very least with  words which caused the death of someones dream or spirit, cutting deeper into their heart than any sharpened sword.

Constantly demanding justice, we search for the perfect punishment to fit each crime, real or imagined, that has been perpetrated against us based on our own limited morals and experience.   We call ourselves righteous or even worse, Christian, and we set out on our own little Jihad holding court with ourselves as both judge and jury.  And in the end we imagine the world a better place because of it.

I am basically a good and loving person, and I believe there is good in almost everyone, but during my lifetime I have made many mistakes, committed many crimes against my fellow man, some conscious choices and some purely accidental.  In return I have been wounded,  purposely maimed, and once even had my own children injured during the conflict.

At this point in my life I'm not afraid to say I'm sorry, to take responsibility, and to make restitution when it is due.  I no longer seek justice and I sincerely try not to make judgements on others.  I believe that this world would be a better place if we stopped holding court all the time: stopped throwing stones.   I have learned that some laws are better than others, that no one is truly innocent,  that justice is an illusive concept, and that mercy and forgiveness win over punishment more often than not.