The Weight of Glory – C. S. Lewis (1980)
Two wrongs don’t make a right … how often have we been told that over the years, but it seems that not everyone would agree, and to be honest in certain circumstances, I don’t either.
Take when something is done to your child … if it was me I would want that person to suffer not just as much, but more so than the anguish they caused. I try very hard to have compassion in most things but find myself lacking when I read about a paedophile that has come a cropper at the hands of others once convicted and is inside prison.
There is a notion that floats about on occasions that the perpetrator should be placed in the company of the parents for just five minutes, in which time they are allowed to do whatever they want, without killing them and not face prosecution for assault. However, I think most people are too nice to even be able to think about what they could do, let alone do it but, in the heat of the moment … just maybe revenge is a worthy undertaking.
Also, over the years there have been cases in court where the victim of a crime has defended themselves or their property only to find themselves on the wrong side of the law when arrested and charged with an offence. To compound matters the way the law stands it is legal for the criminal to then sue for compensation.
A personal case … a youth broke a window to our house and was in the process of putting anything that could be sold into a holdall when we arrived home. Dashing upstairs and hiding in the wardrobe we simply locked the door until the police arrived. The holdall containing our possessions was in the wardrobe when the police arrested him on suspicion of burglary. Apparently, there was not enough evidence to arrest him for breaking and entering or theft … note … the window was smashed, he had blood all down his arm, and left a trail of it everywhere he’d gone and he was hiding upstairs with our things in a holdall.
Even though his fingerprints were on the door and throughout the house, including the things he had in the bag there was insufficient evidence to charge him with theft as he had not left the premises and, according to the police there was no evidence that it was him that had smashed the window. Case dismissed.
To top it all he then made a claim against us for unlawful imprisonment when we locked him in the wardrobe … that went to court, but luckily was thrown-out by the judge, who in fairness was none too happy about it being presented to him in the first place.
To wrongs don’t make a right (?) … these days it often seems to depend on which side of the law is supporting you.