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Sep 14, 2001, 3:17pm

From "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran:

THEN one of the judges of the city stood forth and said, Speak to us of
Crime and Punishment.

And he answered, saying: It is when your spirit goes wandering upon the
wind, That you, alone and unguarded, commit a wrong unto others and
therefore unto yourself. And for that wrong committed must you knock and
wait a while unheeded at the gate of the blessed.

Like the ocean is your god-self; It remains for ever undefiled. And like
the ether it lifts but the winged. Even like the sun is your god-self; It
knows not the ways of the mole nor seeks it the holes of the serpent.

But your god-self does not dwell alone in your being. Much in you is still
man, and much in you is not yet man, But a shapeless pygmy that walks asleep
in the mist searching for its own awakening.

And of the man in you would I now speak. For it is he and not your god-self
nor the pygmy in the mist, that knows crime and the punishment of crime.

Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he
were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your
world. But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond
the highest
which is in each one of you, So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower
than the lowest which is in you also.
And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the
whole tree, So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of
you all.

Like a procession you walk together towards your god-self. You are the way
and the wayfarers. And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind
him, a caution against the stumbling stone. Ay, and he falls for those
ahead of him, who though faster and surer of foot, yet removed not the
stumbling stone.

And this also, though the words lie heavy upon your hearts:
The murdered is not unaccountable for his own murder, And the robbed is not
blameless in being robbed. The righteous is not innocent of the deeds of
the wicked, And the white-handed is not clean in the doings of the felon.

Yea, the guilty is oftentimes the victim of the injured, And still more
often the condemned is the burden-bearer for the guiltless and unblamed.

You cannot separate the just from the unjust and the good from the wicked;
For they stand together before the face
of the sun even as the black thread and the white are woven together. And
when the black thread breaks, the
weaver shall look into the whole cloth, and he shall examine the loom also.

If any of you would bring judgment on the unfaithful wife, Let him also
weigh the heart of her husband in scales, and measure his soul with
measurements.

And let him who would lash the offender look unto the spirit of the
offended.

And if any of you would punish in the name of righteousness and lay the ax
unto the evil tree, let him see to its roots;
And verily he will find the roots of the good and the bad, the fruitful and
the fruitless, all entwined together in the silent heart of the earth.

And you judges who would be just, What judgment pronounce you upon him who
though honest in the flesh yet is a thief in spirit?

What penalty lay you upon him who slays in the flesh yet is himself slain in
the spirit?

And how prosecute you him who in action is a deceiver and an oppressor, Yet
who also is aggrieved and outraged?

And how shall you punish those whose remorse is already greater than their
misdeeds?
Is not remorse the justice which is administered by that very law which you
would fain serve?
Yet you cannot lay remorse upon the innocent nor lift it from the heart of
the guilty. Unbidden shall it call in the night, that men may wake and gaze
upon themselves.

And you who would understand justice, how shall you unless you look upon all
deeds in the fullness of light?
Only then shall you know that the erect and the fallen are but one man
standing in twilight between the night of his pygmy-self and the day of his
god-self, And that the corner-stone of the temple is not higher than the
lowest stone in its
foundation.
_______________

Kahlil Gibran was a teacher/philosopher who died in 1931... I often find
comfort and wisdom in his words so I thought I'd share these ones above with
you all...

My message is let us be very careful not sink to the level we perceive our
attackers as being at...

*hugs* for all of us
Daphne

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Sep 14, 2001, 7:34pm

Well spoken. Both you and Gibran. Sinking down to their level is not what
we need to do. Any action any state takes should not be done out of
revenge. It should be done because the needs of the many outweigh the needs
of the few. Destroying terrorist strongholds accomplishes this as best as
anything I know. When they're disorganized, they cannot hurt anyone.
--
Chris
Eagle Scout, Philosopher, Peacemaker, and... Kung Fu Master?
http://www.winternet.com/~mikelr/flame1.html

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