|
Revenge will always be to the detriment of the harmonious balance of a functional society. The purpose of law and justice is to maintain and restore this balance. There is no place for revenge in a system of law and justice. The same goes for lethal retribution.
Removing a killer from an open and free society seems to make more sense in terms of restoring harmony than does killing the killer.
Why do we wish to kill the killer? What does this do to us?
__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
|