WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2022, VIOLENCE - DAY III

 WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2022, VIOLENCE - DAY III

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

“From scripture,  Exodus 21:23-25 states, "But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."  Leviticus 24:19-21 echoes this assertion, "Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: fracture for fracture, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury."  

The concept of if you injure another person’s eye, then they have the right to injure your eye is common in most societies.  The reference I found said it was part of the ancient Code of Hammurabi.  

In some respects this makes sense.  It is an equal exchange - you lost an eye in the fight, and the other person should lose an eye.  Even insurance plans today have dollar values for injured body parts.  Worker's compensation insurance can have such factors built into the coverage.  If a person working for a company is injured on the job, he/she is entitled to payment.  If I am working in a machine shop and lose a finger due to faulty machinery, I am entitled to compensation.  

But, this week I’m writing about violence.  If my neighbor intentionally pokes out my eye, the concept says I can poke out his/her eye.  

The concept by Hélder Câmara is that If violence is met by violence, the world will fall into a spiral of violence.  Think of a spiral of violence.  Person A (or county A) attacks person B.  Later person B attacks person A - but to make up for the first injury, person B attacks a little more aggressively.

Or, in a sports context. For example sake, we’ll call the teams Bears and Lions and we’ll assume these are high school teams playing football. This year the Bears are really powerful.  The talk is that the Bears should win their conference and possibly win the state championship.  

To make their point that they are powerful when the Bears play the Lions - they run up the score with the final score of 70 to 3.  (Talk about a blowout).  The coach for the Bears played his first-team until into the last quarter and then reluctantly substituted some of the ‘junior’ players.  

A couple of years down the line, the Lions have an awesome team.  So when they played the Bears, at the end of the third quarter, the score was 49 to 3 in favor of the Lions.   (The term “one-upmanship” fits).  But, the Bear coach has a trip up his sleeve.  He sends in Bruno - a third-string tackle - with instructions to tackle the Lion quarterback - hard.  Knock him down, knock him out of the game with an injury.

And, Bruno goes in and tackles the quarterback hard and the quarterback goes limping off the field.  Bruno gets a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness.  The Lions put in their second-string player - who hasn’t played much and on the first pass play throws an interception for the Bears.  Energized, the Bears scored twice. For the rest of the game, the Lion quarterback only hands off the ball and tries to run down the clock.  The final score is 49 to 24 - still lopsided.  

The Lion quarterback is out for the season and the Bears win the conference title with the Lions coming in second. 

In their game next year, the Lion players gang up on the Bear quarterback with the intent to hurt him.

This is a “Spiral of Violence” 

*****

“If we really want an effective end to violence we must remove the violence that lies at the root of all violence: structural violence, social injustice, exclusion of citizens from the management of the country, repression. —Óscar Romero

*****

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.  Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” Matthew 5:38

*****

On Monday, I quoted Elvis Presley’s In the Ghetto:

Then one night in desperation

The young man breaks away

He buys a gun, he steals a car

Tries to run, but he don't get far

As a crowd gathers 'round an angry young man

Facedown on the street with a gun in his hand

And as her young man dies (In the ghetto)

On a cold and gray Chicago morn'

Violence leads to more violence.  It seems as if this first-century Jewish Rabbi suggests that the way around violence is to show LOVE. Don’t fight back.

Tomorrow - one more violent viewpoint!!

LOVE WINS

Karen White
May 11, 2022