The Wisdom of Justice Tempered by Mercy

A note to young leaders.

Don’t be too quick to identify your politics as strictly left or right.

Surely we should all be both: justice and mercy, the verdict and the pardon, the long arm of the law and the open arms of love.

Nature teaches us this, if we’re willing to look at it honestly.

We like to see the natural world as a balanced, symbiotic harmony. And very often, it is – the bee pollinates the flower, the tree shelters the bird, and the reef stands as a cathedral of color and life.

But nature is also violent, predatory and unforgiving. When the lion strikes, it targets the young, the sick, the lame and the elderly.

When viewers complained to David Attenborough that his BBC nature documentaries were too violent, he aptly replied: “People who accuse us of putting in too much violence should see what we leave on the cutting-room floor.”

Nature is far harsher than polite society cares to admit. And if nature is God’s creation, then God is no sentimentalist.

Jesus may have been a Democrat, but God the Father was a Republican.

Some prefer justice over mercy – but go too far and you become rigid, punitive and cold. Others prefer mercy over justice – but go too far and you become indulgent, fragile and maudlin.

Mercy after all is not the absence of justice. If nothing is owed, nothing can be forgiven. Mercy is justice restrained.

So the next time someone asks you if you lean left or right, tell them: “Politically speaking, I’m a swinger.”