Centuries ago, my viking ancestors were busy raiding villages and burning houses. Now, my living ancestors (ahem, my family) are well behaved, rule abiding christians and jews. Instead of burning houses, they burn candles every friday night, and instead of throwing their enemies to their knees, they instead kneel down to pray for them. They prefer tame activies such as church potlucks or sabbath service, over their ancestors' raping and pillaging. Personally, I am not inclined to raping and pillaging, nor am I inclined to being a saintly servant of an omnipotent, power-hungry, war mongering being (wait...did I just describe the god of the old testament, or was that description of a viking leader...?).
This may be contradictory, but there are two viewpoints I solidly agree with from each side: love and mercy (christian), and sweet sweet vengeance (the vikings, obviously). No I won't turn the other cheek, but I will forgive you for slapping me, after I cut your hand off. Perhaps I'm wrathful, but there is something inside of me that cries"justice!" that wants to punish people for all of the cruelty that they have forced upon others, instead of waiting for them to die and be reborn as a dung beetle. I want fairness, I want evenness, and most of all I want people that act out of selfishness to pay for their actions.
My latest watercolor
I struggle with the justice vs. compassion thing all the time. It's not that I'm not compassionate, but as you say, my soul is screaming "Justice!" when someone is victimized, and I can't find much solace in turning the other cheek unless I'm the victim and it's MY choice to turn MY cheek. It's especially difficult when so many people are allowed to walk away from all the pain/destruction/harm they've caused, while their victims don't have that option. I guess it's one of those things we have to learn to live with on a day-to-day basis. Glad to know I'm not alone in this.
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