Recently I was making a visit in a local jail. As I stood in line to request the visit, a young mother came in behind me. I couldn’t help but hear the discussion between her and her daughter.
Photo Credit: Saikano259
“Mom, is this the jail?” she asked.
“Yes, Honey, it is,” the mother replied, accompanied by that nervous laugh that is often heard in awkward spaces.
“Is this where Daddy is?”
“Yes, Honey.”
“Where is he?” the little girl asked, twisting around like a ballerina at the end of her mother’s hand.
“They have him in the back,” Mom said.
“Why did he have to come to jail?” the little girl asked.
Mom hesitated. Nervous laugh. “Well, because he ran a stop sign.”
“Oh,” the little one said and sighed. “Couldn’t Daddy have just told the policeman he was sorry?”
Nervous laugh.
“Sometimes it doesn’t work that way, Honey.” Mom was now bending over her daughter and as I turned away, they shared a big hug.
Sometimes it just doesn’t work that way. Sometimes consequences have to be fully realized. Sometimes justice isn’t as simple as we wish it was. Sometimes things we do can’t be brushed away with a simple apology. When people run stop signs, wreak havoc, take lives, spew hatred . . . they must be held accountable.
Simple justice is a necessary part of a fractured world, yet we can’t afford to let go of the other side. Simple mercy begins with us, in our hearts and in our personal response.
Justice is necessary to bring order and to ensure fairness. But mercy is an essential element in our desire to pursue that order and uphold that fairness. And that makes simple justice complicated.
Justice can force and enforce. Justice can put a stop to things. It is mercy that turns and reshapes troubled moments into something a little bit better.