Justice for All
Children seem to come into the world with an inborn desire for justice. Except for Mary and Joseph, I doubt that any responsible parent of more than one child has ever reared his or her children to adulthood without hearing some version of “It’s not fair!” when one child felt as if he didn’t get equal treatment with his siblings.
We human beings care about fairness. God does, too. The prophet Micah told the people of Judah:
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8
Wise parents work to balance justice and grace as they train their children. A child who is punished harshly for every major and minor offense may grow up to feel unworthy of others’ love and respect. A child whose faults are always excused and explained away may grow up to feel entitled to do exactly as he pleases without facing negative consequences.
God handles that balance perfectly. Wise parents ask Him to help them find that balance, too.
In addition to telling us about his children and grandchildren, our friend Thomas also related experiences from his fourteen years serving in law enforcement. His first rescue experience came before his official duties began. As he drove home on the day he learned that he had the job, he saw an overturned convertible in the middle of a field. A young man Thomas knew had been drinking. He had run off the road and landed in the middle of a field that the young man’s father owned.
Thomas hurried to the overturned car and found that the car had landed upside down over a gulley in the field. The car was sitting astride the gulley. That gulley had saved his life. Thomas used a knife to cut open the plastic rear windshield and freed the young man. A doctor Thomas knew was driving by and came over to see how he could help. The doctor checked the young man out and said that his bleeding had almost stopped, but that he should go to the emergency room. The young man asked Thomas to take him to his dad, which he did. He did get medical attention though, and his father later told Thomas that his son had needed over 120 stitches in his head.
Though from a health standpoint the young man probably should have gone straight to the hospital, I am impressed that he trusted his father enough to want to go home. Thomas didn’t tell us how he lived the rest of his life, but I certainly hope that the grace he received from God and his father taught him a lesson about life.
An important aspect of a law enforcement officer’s job is appearing in court to give testimony concerning people he or she has arrested. One time a judge told Thomas that the person whom he had arrested and was now in the courtroom was the attorney general from one of Tennessee’s major cities. In a free and just government, it doesn’t matter what someone’s position is or who that person knows or who that person’s family is. The law is the law and everyone has to abide by it and pay the consequences when he or she decides to violate it.
Like you I have long heard stories about patronage and have been appalled when learning that one citizen got favorable treatment in some way simply because he knew someone with power. However, Ray and I were surprised to hear Thomas and another person discussing the time when places in Tennessee had patronage committees. The heads of these committees helped local people get state jobs.
Once Thomas was on patrol when he saw a vehicle traveling 25 miles over the speed limit. He pulled the vehicle over and asked for the driver’s license. The man told Thomas that he was in a hurry. He refused to show his license and asked Thomas, “Do you know who I am?” Thomas did know who the person was. He was the chairman of a local patronage committee.
Thomas said that at the time, officers had two ticket books. One was for warning tickets and one was for actual tickets that a law breaker would have to take care of either by paying a fine or going to court. At first, Thomas picked up his warning ticket book to write out a warning. When the patronage committee chairman continued to refuse to show his license, Thomas switched to the other book and gave the man a ticket.
In both of these cases, neither being an attorney general or being a patronage committee chairman mattered to Thomas. He was following his daddy’s advice. His daddy had given him advice when he first became a law enforcement officer. His daddy said, “You are going to have to make some people unhappy. If you are making everybody happy, you are not doing your job.” Thomas decided that he wanted to go home at the end of every shift knowing that he had done the right thing.
I like this photo from the Library of Congress. Photographer Carl Mydans took the picture at an Albany, Vermont, fair in September 1936. Its caption is: The “state cop” is the young boy’s idol.
When Thomas arrested an attorney general and a patronage committee chairman, he was doing justice. At a wreck in a field, Thomas treated a young man with kindness. When he followed his daddy’s advice so that he could go home every day knowing he had done his job well, he was walking humbly with his God.
Our children need us to teach them how to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with their God.
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8