Mercy and Justice (Another Speech, but a really cool one)

This one also took 1st place at the competition last winter.

According to the NYtimes, In Nov 2004, on a freeway in Long Island, Ryan Cushing, a reckless teenager, threw a 20 pound turkey out of the back window of a speeding car.  The Turkey flew through the windshield of 44 year old Victoria Ruvolo’s car, and shattered every bone in her face.  Mrs ruvolo underwent hours of intensive surgery as doctors slowly pieced her face back together bit by bit, using metal plates and screws.  The prosecutor for Mr Cuhing’s trial, Thomas Spota, had been ready to seek harsh punishment for a crime he rightly denounced as heedless and brutal. "This is not an act of mere stupidity," Mr. Spota said. "They're not 9- or 7-year-old children." Cushing could have faced 25 years in Prison.  “in cases like these” mr spota said, “death doesn’t even satisfy the victim of the crime.”  But Mrs Ruvolo was not an ordinary victim; instead of seeking revenge, or even Justice, instead of drinking a bitter cup of hate, anger, and resentment, mrs Ruvolo  insisted on a Merciful sentence for mr. Cushing. As a result, he was sentenced to 6 months in Prison, and five years of probation.  “Stopping to speak to her on his way out of the courtroom, Mr. Cushing choked on an apology and began to cry. For an intensely emotional few minutes, Ms. Ruvolo alternately embraced him tightly, stroked his face and patted his back as he sobbed uncontrollably.
Many of the two dozen people in court - [hardened] prosecutors, court officers and reporters - choked back tears.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," Mr. Cushing said over and over again. "I didn't mean it." Most of their exchange was whispered, but at one point Ms. Ruvolo's advice to him was just barely audible.
"It's O.K., it's O.K.," she said. "I just want you to make your life the best it can be."
chief of the district attorney's Major Crimes Bureau, Peter Mayer, noted that prosecutors were not bound by a crime victim's wishes, but he said that Ms. Ruvolo and the evidence left them little choice.
Outside the courtroom, Mr. Mayer added that he had not seen such a forgiving victim in his 30 years as a prosecutor. He said, "It is our feeling that the ends of justice have been met in this case."

Under normal circumstances this story should have ended tragically, with both lives destroyed, and devastated; mr. Cushing could have wasted away in Prison for the next 25 years, and become an adult with nothing to contribute to society but feelings of guilt, bitterness, and resentment; and Mrs Ruvolo could have spent the rest of her bitter life drinking the unforgiving dregs of anger at this young man who shattered her face.  Both lives could have been ruined. Had most anyone else been in Mrs Ruvolo’s place both lives could have been destroyed, and no one would have batted an eye, because Justice was served.  But Mrs Ruvolo, through her actions of mercy transcended the role of victim, and became a savior to both herself, and Mr cushing; and where lives should have been ruined, happiness destroyed, Because Mrs Ruvolo showed mercy lives were saved, people were touched, and countless hearts were changed. Hardened Prosecutors were brought to tears.

And while Mercy was shown that day, as mr. Meyer said, justice was still accomplished. Perhaps not in the formal sense, with harsh punishments, and formalities, but mr Cushing learned his lesson, he served his time, and Mr Cushing changed.  And Mrs Ruvolo, instead of allowing herself to be victimized, accepted the consequences of Cushings actions. And thus, mercy was accomplished, and justice was not robbed. Mercy and Justice can, in fact, work together in perfect harmony. There are times when a hardened criminal needs to be locked up, when someone is not willing to change, not willing to learn a lesson, not willing to give up their crime - in such cases mercy has no hold, no claim, on the offender.  But, more often than not, the story more fully resembles Mrs Ruvolo’s, and Mr Cushing’s, and mercy can be shown.

The punishment was still dealt out, justice was satisfied, and mercy held full sway.

For Mercy comes not when a guilty man goes free, and the wronged party goes uncompensated, but when the one who has suffered, the one who was wronged, the one who had the offense committed against them chooses to accept the consequences and the responsibility for the actions of the offender.

These principles of mercy apply not only to the grand courts of the world, but they illumine also the every day, and can exalt the mundane.  However, when it comes to our lives personally, instead of acting out of Mercy, instead of bringing light to the everyday, and raising ourselves out of the mundane,  we end up, as it were, worshipping, and demanding what we call justice, at all costs.

We see this in many different circumstances, and in varying degrees of severity; whether if it is a matter of  leaving the harder job for a co-worker, because he never does his fair share anyway, not talking to a spouse, because they offended you, they deserve it, and its only just that they apologize first, or something as simple as hitting your brother because he hit you first, not sharing a candy bar with a younger sibling, because they never share with you. or insisting that its not fair that you have to clean up, because it’s not your mess

Often, that which we call justice, is not just at all, but justification;
it is not demanding that which is fair, but that which absolves us from responsibility,
It is not a noble virtue, it is an excuse from common courtesy.

We all do it, and we see others do it all the time. This is the unknown god that we worship;  In the process of worshipping this god of justification we ceremoniously drink the bitter cup of resentment, anger, and the damning belief that we are right, and the other person has wronged us - damning, because in the process of drinking this bitter cup we sacrifice to this unknown god, on the altar of Pride, our friendships, our peace of mind, and the joy we otherwise could have felt from our family relationships, and from serving others

Often we expect everyone to forgive us, and overlook our faults when we are not willing to do the same - we insist that our bitter cup is sweet enough, we sacrifice the relationships we might have had, and we choke down our bitter cup; all the while insisting that we are happy, because justice is served.  Forgetting that mercy cannot rob justice in the first place, and that by the standards of conduct you have set, you yourself are not justified; only temporarily absolved from responsibility, or common courtesy, and kindness

We wrong others, we commit injustices all the time, If we wish to be forgiven, it is only just that we forgive.

And here is the greatest irony, that we cannot but be merciful, if we wish to be just . Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Isn’t that just?

He that loves his neighbor and hates his enemy, though it may seem just, is still acting out of reverence for the unknown god
If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.  Or if any man will steal your silverware, give them the candlesticks, too.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. If it’s your job to wash off  the counters, wash off the counters, too, even though it’s your sisters job.
Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Even, if they never share with you.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; and forgive those who thoughtlessly throw a turkey out of their back window.

This is mercy -this is how we ought to act. And when we do, we taste the sweet joy that comes from touching and changing a life for the better, strengthening and building relationships, instead of letting our lives, and others, be drowned in the dregs of a bitter cup.

If you will remember, there was another kind of bitter cup that was drunk:  When Christ, the only perfect man to ever walk the earth sacrificed his pride, and His whole self, on the altar of love, and the infamous cross: in His infinite love and mercy, He suffered to appease the demands of justice that we may show mercy; that we might be shown mercy. So that we can taste the sweet joy that comes from mercy, so that we don’t have to drink that bitter cup.

“Therefore,” as Shakespeare once wrote “Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That, in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy.”