Compassionate Release
Haven't written here in a while, but I needed to write something I found profound, and I wanted to write it for a smaller group of people that my Facebook reach.
I have a friend who told a story about a plane trip he was supposed to take. He still had the ticket stashed away somewhere in his house, in a safe place, as a reminder of G-d's compassion.
It was a ticket for Pan Am flight 103.
He was supposed to be on the plane but couldn't make the flight. For those of you who live in a cave, Flight 103 was blown up by a terrorist over Lockerbie, Scotland. He understood the gravity of the situation. I don't remember all the details of the story, but he recognized that G-d was sending him a message by sparing him, and he turned himself to righteous pursuits.
Or so we thought. He was my former employer. He's in jail right now awaiting trial for his role in a Ponzi scheme that decimated my community, left many people without their retirement money, and left me unemployed for a year with a tarnished resume.
Whenever I express a little compassion for him, someone nearby usually reminds me he doesn't really deserve it. In his heart, he wanted to make tons of money for all of his friends. He just had no compunctions about breaking the rules to do it. When the facts come out, all I can pray for is that he gets treated fairly. That might mean plenty of jail time, but if that's fair, let it be fair.
The irony here is that the admitted and convicted bomber of that flight just got the compassion that my former employer (and friend) will not get. He got an early release from jail and a hero's welcome in Libya, where he will live out his short life, dying painfully of cancer.
It all seems wrong on so many levels. Why doesn't this guy get to finish his LIFE sentence in prison? Isn't that what a life sentence is for? LIFE?! Why are the Libyans so intellectually stunted that they still hold this guy as a hero? Didn't we normalize relations? Aren't they supposed to be the rational human beings our president reached out to?
Why does he get the privilege of dying of cancer? Pain and suffering in this world brings atonement in the next - most religions believe this, including Islam. Dying of cancer is an atonement this man does not deserve. Let him take a bullet and earn his eternal suffering the in the world to come. Let him die quicker in jail where they will be less meticulous about treating his cancer, instead of at home in Libya where they will do everything to try and extend his life.
And finally, my dear, fallen angel of a friend, sitting in a jail cell because he got greedy - way too greedy. He hurt my community, he hurt the lives of many families, and he hurt me.
But there's a difference. He can make restitution. He can repent. Even though he's done it all before and repented before and made restitution before, he can do it again. He has whatever time his human body allows him to act in good faith and help the Receiver find money to return to his investors.
The ball is in his court. He can earn compassion. But will he get compassion?
Or do you need to blow up a plane full of innocent people to get compassion.
I have a friend who told a story about a plane trip he was supposed to take. He still had the ticket stashed away somewhere in his house, in a safe place, as a reminder of G-d's compassion.
It was a ticket for Pan Am flight 103.
He was supposed to be on the plane but couldn't make the flight. For those of you who live in a cave, Flight 103 was blown up by a terrorist over Lockerbie, Scotland. He understood the gravity of the situation. I don't remember all the details of the story, but he recognized that G-d was sending him a message by sparing him, and he turned himself to righteous pursuits.
Or so we thought. He was my former employer. He's in jail right now awaiting trial for his role in a Ponzi scheme that decimated my community, left many people without their retirement money, and left me unemployed for a year with a tarnished resume.
Whenever I express a little compassion for him, someone nearby usually reminds me he doesn't really deserve it. In his heart, he wanted to make tons of money for all of his friends. He just had no compunctions about breaking the rules to do it. When the facts come out, all I can pray for is that he gets treated fairly. That might mean plenty of jail time, but if that's fair, let it be fair.
The irony here is that the admitted and convicted bomber of that flight just got the compassion that my former employer (and friend) will not get. He got an early release from jail and a hero's welcome in Libya, where he will live out his short life, dying painfully of cancer.
It all seems wrong on so many levels. Why doesn't this guy get to finish his LIFE sentence in prison? Isn't that what a life sentence is for? LIFE?! Why are the Libyans so intellectually stunted that they still hold this guy as a hero? Didn't we normalize relations? Aren't they supposed to be the rational human beings our president reached out to?
Why does he get the privilege of dying of cancer? Pain and suffering in this world brings atonement in the next - most religions believe this, including Islam. Dying of cancer is an atonement this man does not deserve. Let him take a bullet and earn his eternal suffering the in the world to come. Let him die quicker in jail where they will be less meticulous about treating his cancer, instead of at home in Libya where they will do everything to try and extend his life.
And finally, my dear, fallen angel of a friend, sitting in a jail cell because he got greedy - way too greedy. He hurt my community, he hurt the lives of many families, and he hurt me.
But there's a difference. He can make restitution. He can repent. Even though he's done it all before and repented before and made restitution before, he can do it again. He has whatever time his human body allows him to act in good faith and help the Receiver find money to return to his investors.
The ball is in his court. He can earn compassion. But will he get compassion?
Or do you need to blow up a plane full of innocent people to get compassion.