Forgive but punish part deux

If you read my last blog you know that one of my tires was recently slashed. If you read this blog you will know that there where still further consequences of that slashing.

After my tire was slashed I changed it out for a spare so I could take the flat one in and have it fixed. This was considerably more difficult than usual due to some rust and labor problems. But, from the comfort of my driveway and with all my tools, I was able to change the tire.

When I went in to get the new tire they checked my spare and found it was rather flat so they pumped it back up to perfection. This is where my last blog ended.

So yesterday I was driving through Death Valley. The valley is so named because it is a tough place. The hottest temperature in the western hemisphere was recorded there at 134 degrees (136 is the world record), the lowest spot in America is there (286 feet below sea level), and there is no water but tons of salt. It looks like the moon.

So naturally I was driving off road in the middle of the most inhospitable place in North America and I bet you can guess what happened. I got a flat tire.

I got out of the car and changed the tire with only a couple of hang ups, most of which I had already faced when I changed my slashed tire. I put on my spare with the confidence knowing that it had been checked and pumped up just a few weeks before.

Then I drove 240 miles to safety (Death valley is pretty Isolated).

When I was laying on my back in the dry cracked dirt of Death Vally working on the tire, you can be sure I was thankful I had practiced 2 weeks before and that my spare was now in tip top shape. My anger at having a slashed tire was a distant memory.

I'm not saying that having my tire slashed was a good thing. In fact, its possible that had my tire not been slashed I would never have gotten a flat at all (it wasn't the new tire that popped). I'm just saying its important to check the air pressure on your spare tire.

Forgive but punish

As a happy go lucky chap, its not too often that terrible things happen to me for no reason. I'm healthy, educated, good at poker, read fast, you get the idea. So when, out of the blue, I got smacked in the balls I figured the matter deserved further blooging (i.e. out of the blue balls).

Last night someone slashed my tire. I live in crappy Utah so I should have expected it, but let me just give a run down of what that meant for me. I was supposed to be at class at 11 am. I spent an hour changing the tire instead, then went to the tire place, where the informed me it would cost 12 dollars to patch it. No biggy, I figured I would get some reading done, and I can get alot of reading done in the time it takes to change a tire.

But then the tire guy comes back and says my tire was slashed, and shows me the knife hole. He can't patch it so it will cost 140 dollars for a new tire (I have good tires, another blessing). So now I am going to get a ton of reading done, but I have to realize someone did this to harm me, it wasn't just Utah's crappy roads.

This means that I am out 140 bucks and now I am writing this worrying that someone is outside slashing more of my tires. Maybe they aren't, maybe it was some kids just messing around. But if its not I could have $550ish in new tires to by (better at reading than math).

So, for no reason I can discern, as I have no natural enemies (not unlike a polar bear), I am out a bunch of money, time, missed my class, and now I have to worry. Some evil person just caused alot of pain for no reason.

My first instinct is to catch the person and kill them. I know that sounds rash, and the punishment doesn't fit the crime, but I can't help it. When someone wrongs you in an evil way, for no good reason, you spend at least a moment wanting to kill them.

But then I remember that its lent, and I'm supposed to be a Christian. A priest would tell me this is an opportunity to turn the other cheek, to bless my enemy. So I tried it. I imagined myself hiding in the bushes, shotgun in hand, the guy coming back, and me walking up and saying something like "I forgive you," and then turning the other tire.

It is unlikely that I will spend the night in the bushes, most likely I will curl up with a book and do some speed reading. But what about my desire for vengeance? For retribution? Its very real and I'm not sure it will go away.

I want to conclude that you can forgive someone and still hold them accountable. That justice is giving someone what they deserve but not enjoying it. Is it possible to forgive someone for doing something evil to you and still punish them for it?

I think that is what Christians who support the death penalty are saying, that justice and forgiveness are not mutually exclusive on earth. But I don't think Jesus meant for true forgiveness to include punishment.

That leaves me feeling pretty hollow. I want to shoot the ones we catch to make up for all the slashers that get away. I guess figuring out how to hold people accountable while forgiving them is beyond my grasp. At least I can read good.