Evolving Beyond Retribution
An open letter to activists espousing violence as a form of activism against statism.
A shepherd had a nice flock of sheep but he was endlessly frustrated because his neighbor had more sheep than him. One day he had just birthed a new lamb only to discover that his neighbor had birthed two and was even further ahead of him. He’d had it. That night and every night thereafter, he began to complain about it in his prayers.
“Lord, Manuel now has five more sheep than me. I work just as hard as him and take good care of my sheep and it’s just not fair!”
After many nights of prayers full of whining and complaining about what he perceived as a terrible injustice, he heard a clear voice in his head.
“Alright! Alright! Just stop complaining and I will help you, but only this once. Then you are on your own. I don’t want to hear another word about it!” answered the Lord.
“Oh, thank you Lord! You are truly just! So… you are going to kill five of Manuel’s sheep?”
I believe the story was meant as an analogy about far left politics and what seems like a desire to drag everyone down to an equal level of misery. It may not seem to relate to retribution, but it does address a flaw in our thinking that fuels what I see as a pointless desire for retribution.
