Zero Tolerance

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.’” Zechariah 7:8-10.

I like Zechariahs’s naked accusation that “you plan evil in [your] heart against [your] brother.” Zechariah is not interested in pretexts or rationales or policies that mask our intent: to plan revenge. Call it whatever you like, the abandonment of mercy toward the weak, the powerless, the not-yet-convicted indulges our worst impulses to punish vindictively.

The notion of “zero tolerance” appeals to the vindictive nature. We resent certain alleged offenders and want to punish them summarily before a court can step in and mitigate the punishment. It is the legal rationale for “no mercy.” We  have used it to expel students from school and immigrants from our country for what we consider the unforgivable. Currently our government uses this pretext to separate the children of accused illegal immigrants from their families and moving them to detention centers.

Sometimes “zero tolerance” seems necessary to get the organizers of drug cartels or domestic abusers away from their victims. We use it to defend the defenseless, and it seems merciful, rather than vindictive.

But sometimes “zero tolerance” is no more than a pretext for vindictive anger. We want nothing more than to lash out against alleged abusers of the law before they have been found guilty. When the policy of “zero tolerance” is used to execute public anger against a class of people, then it violates the decency of democracy and divine mercy. We forget that we are all in need of mercy at some point in our lives.

If we are honest, if we are self-aware, if we know our place before God, we know we need mercy. We are not merciful out of kindness, we are merciful because we have received the mercy of God or of those who have known God’s mercy. Our sense of justice is balanced against our hope for mercy. Thankfully there are many who govern or who execute the laws who remember to show mercy in the process of executing justice.

When we show mercy we are healed as well as healing.  We give up the anger that often controls us and learn to see others as God sees us. Mercy is not merely our gift to others, it is God’s gift to us. Mercy is God’s imprint on us, both personal and ethical.

May we always prefer tolerance and mercy to the vindictive anger that poisons our soul and society.

To Mercy House we came
Over and over again
We tell her where we’ve been
“Do you think you could take us in?”
The answer is always the same
In Mercy House we hide
But just for the sake of our pride
She sews up all the holes
In our older brother’s clothes
And tells us it’s safe to go outside
Eleos Dojo
Eleos Dojo
Eleos Dojo
Come home, come home, come home come home, Come home
Come home.
At Mercy House we fell
Down to the bottom of her well
She tries to coax us out
She cups her hands and shouts,
“Oh, but think of the stories you will tell!”

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