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for an Eye An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
Perhaps you have heard the news that a man in Iran was going to be punished by having acid dripped in his eyes so he would be blinded, as he blinded a woman, Ameneh Bahrami, who he felt rejected by. Some say that this would be vengeance. Others say it would be justice. Many say that whether you call it either vengeance or justice, it is still "barbaric." What puzzles me is why so many people think that blinding someone in the name of justice is "barbaric," but killing them is not. When American President Obama dramatically announced the killing of bin Laden, he proclaimed that "justice has been done." But was it justice or was it vengeance? Note that he prefaced it with, "we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda's terror..." So was he really speaking to anyone else? Was he speaking to the rest of the world? Was he speaking to the family of bin Laden? Was he speaking to the millions around the world who support bin Laden? Was he speaking to those who believe in the concept of fair trials, with the accused having legal representation? One would understand that family members would seek vengeance when a loved one is killed. One would also understand if they would temporarily forget even their own stated beliefs and ideals about what "justice" is. This is why we don't allow families to carry out "justice." This is why they don't allow lynch mobs in the USA anymore. Sometimes, in their haste for vengeance, a mob would kill the wrong person, for example. But that is just one problem with killing based on vengeance. There are enough other problems with it that most of what we like to call "civilized society" is no longer in favor of vengeance-based killing. Except of course when there has been enough rhetoric and propoganda to cloud people's minds. Obama actually even said this in his same speech.: "We will be true to the values that make us who we are." So I wonder, is vengeance one of these values? It saddens me to see how many Americans have been, may I say, "blinded" to the obvious double standards and hypocrisy. I hope that more Americans will question this word "justice" in the future, and try to live up to the real values which promote human life around the world. Or in other words, to those "values" which place a higher value on human life than on vengeance. Among these I would offer empathy, understanding, and non-violence. Unfortunately for the world, and even for the Americans, these three do not seem to be the values that make Americans who they are at this point in history. I encourage everyone to work together to change this. That is what I would call real change, President Obama. S. Hein |
Other EQI.org Topics: Emotional
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“You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.” A. Einstein |
