![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Justice is alien to the natural world.
Nature favours the strong, however they come by their strength. We are deceived when we believe that those who become strong cannot take whatever they will from us, or that we do not need to become stronger to thrive.
But mercy is the grace of the strong. The strong do not have to destroy; the strong can also protect. They can protect the weak, and they can also protect one another.
If every one of us were held to perfect justice for the things that we have done to those around us, the universe would be even more of a burning grave than it already is. The world we live in has been broken over and over. There is no ledger which holds the accounts. If Primus exists and writes debts in his heart, his accounts are clearly in error; people die every day for being in the way of the whirlwind they didn't see coming.
Certainly those of us who have had greater power have done greater harm. If they will not stop it, then someone must stop them, even and especially if they have the shields of wealth and the law on their side. But once they have stopped...
If you need to seek vengeance for that which you loved, then you will. Sometimes giving up revenge is impossible and unbearable.
But as a people, we should not be in the business of dispensing revenge on behalf of those who won't or can't take it themselves, for a number of reasons.
Those who wish to heal the world cannot bring back the dead, or restore the great works of the past. But they can clear a path and build anew. Some of you will say that you know who I am and who I have been, and that it is in my own interest to say this. But I will tell you this: I did what I did because there were people who did murders that were hidden from the world, and I could not accept the knowledge that your comfort was bought with their extinguished sparks. Even though you did not know this, and you were deceived, it is still true.
All that we can do, together, to honour those who fell in innocence, is to stop throwing stones and build a bridge with them instead.
There will be some who will never care about the pain they caused. But if they fall to vengeance, let it be at the hands of those they wronged, and not some cold-construct just following orders, who doesn't deserve to be made a murderer to ease your conscience.
There will always be those who must be stricken down if you want to survive.
But in the end, when the battle is over, we who remain are all that is left. We can clean up the mess much faster together.
If we are going to deceive ourselves and say that justice, which does not yet exist, is going to be real, then we also have to show mercy. Everything has been broken. It doesn't matter who broke it. Maybe that person is dead. There are broken things everywhere. Pick them up and put them back together, one by one. Be a source of wholeness. If you are a weapon in your heart of hearts, whatever your form, do not allow yourself to be used for anything except protecting what cannot protect itself.
The world we are dreaming of, the world we believe awaits us after we die when we lie to ourselves, isn't real. But it could be. Pick up the pieces, don't think of who scattered them. Rebuild what was broken and possibly someday, we will be able to live in the world we thought we were making.
If a monster sheds its armour when struck with your blade, and you can see the bloody protoform, too weak and vulnerable to do you further harm, you can show mercy if you dare, and it may give you strength you did not have before. The monster you pardon today may stand at your side when the next one comes.
I will not submit to punishment that leaves me unable to fix what's been broken. I have too much to do. Maybe some day, someone will kill me because I destroyed something or someone they loved, but I don't have to just let it happen. There are other destroyers still left to be stopped, and other things to preserve.
Nature favours the strong, however they come by their strength. We are deceived when we believe that those who become strong cannot take whatever they will from us, or that we do not need to become stronger to thrive.
But mercy is the grace of the strong. The strong do not have to destroy; the strong can also protect. They can protect the weak, and they can also protect one another.
If every one of us were held to perfect justice for the things that we have done to those around us, the universe would be even more of a burning grave than it already is. The world we live in has been broken over and over. There is no ledger which holds the accounts. If Primus exists and writes debts in his heart, his accounts are clearly in error; people die every day for being in the way of the whirlwind they didn't see coming.
Certainly those of us who have had greater power have done greater harm. If they will not stop it, then someone must stop them, even and especially if they have the shields of wealth and the law on their side. But once they have stopped...
If you need to seek vengeance for that which you loved, then you will. Sometimes giving up revenge is impossible and unbearable.
But as a people, we should not be in the business of dispensing revenge on behalf of those who won't or can't take it themselves, for a number of reasons.
Those who wish to heal the world cannot bring back the dead, or restore the great works of the past. But they can clear a path and build anew. Some of you will say that you know who I am and who I have been, and that it is in my own interest to say this. But I will tell you this: I did what I did because there were people who did murders that were hidden from the world, and I could not accept the knowledge that your comfort was bought with their extinguished sparks. Even though you did not know this, and you were deceived, it is still true.
All that we can do, together, to honour those who fell in innocence, is to stop throwing stones and build a bridge with them instead.
There will be some who will never care about the pain they caused. But if they fall to vengeance, let it be at the hands of those they wronged, and not some cold-construct just following orders, who doesn't deserve to be made a murderer to ease your conscience.
There will always be those who must be stricken down if you want to survive.
But in the end, when the battle is over, we who remain are all that is left. We can clean up the mess much faster together.
If we are going to deceive ourselves and say that justice, which does not yet exist, is going to be real, then we also have to show mercy. Everything has been broken. It doesn't matter who broke it. Maybe that person is dead. There are broken things everywhere. Pick them up and put them back together, one by one. Be a source of wholeness. If you are a weapon in your heart of hearts, whatever your form, do not allow yourself to be used for anything except protecting what cannot protect itself.
The world we are dreaming of, the world we believe awaits us after we die when we lie to ourselves, isn't real. But it could be. Pick up the pieces, don't think of who scattered them. Rebuild what was broken and possibly someday, we will be able to live in the world we thought we were making.
If a monster sheds its armour when struck with your blade, and you can see the bloody protoform, too weak and vulnerable to do you further harm, you can show mercy if you dare, and it may give you strength you did not have before. The monster you pardon today may stand at your side when the next one comes.
I will not submit to punishment that leaves me unable to fix what's been broken. I have too much to do. Maybe some day, someone will kill me because I destroyed something or someone they loved, but I don't have to just let it happen. There are other destroyers still left to be stopped, and other things to preserve.
