We Call It Justice

Justice is an interesting word.  People often confuse it with revenge or vengeance.  They are not the same thing.  About ten years ago I was sitting in a café patio with a friend.  We had a view of the parking lot which was largely empty.  On this Sunday afternoon I noticed standing in the middle of the parking lot a young man with a Dalmatian dog.  The dog squatted down to do what doggies are so very good at doing.  His human did absolutely nothing to pick up the mess and continued to walk with his dog as though nothing had happened.  Only, he stepped in the dog shit.  He was wearing sandals, no socks of course.  My friend missed the little spectacle but she was not one to look at or to admit to looking at things disagreeable.  When I told her she chuckled and said, "Justice."  As in stepping in his dog's shit that he refused to clean up it served the little twit right.
     For another year or two I continued to patronize the establishment on a weekly basis, meeting one of my clients there for coffee.  As many of my readers know I work with adults who have special needs.  This client of mine did not, as they say, present very well.  His grooming and personal hygiene were something dreadful and not at all representative of the kind of well-heeled, good-looking and fit yuppie that the local chamber of commerce in Kitsilano cares to cultivate.  On some days even I have found him gross and disgusting.  Still, I have even less stomach for classism and discrimination than for bad grooming and poor hygiene so I was then as I still am ready willing and able to be seen anywhere in public with someone who dresses and smells as though they are not having a very good day.
     Eventually we stopped meeting in this café.  The owner, a very scary and unpleasant chap accused me one day of using their washroom without buying anything which in Vancouver is considered almost a capital crime.  He refused to believe me when I tried to convince him I had just spent half an hour there sipping orange juice, bought on the premises, with my client.  I asked the young barista who had served me if he would tell his boss that I\ was a customer in good faith.  The young little wanker became suddenly very nervous and uncomfortable and wouldn't say anything on my behalf.  Needless to say that would have been my final visit to this café.
     It didn't take long to figure out what was really happening.  It was clear that this man did not want the likes of my client on the premises but he could only get rid of him by targeting me.  I posted a complaint online on Yelp and even got a reply from someone vowing to never return to this café.  Recently I went by there and noticed that it was under new ownership with a different name.  In a moment of schadenfreud  I imagined he had lost his business or something bad had happened to him and he was finally gone from the neighbourhood.  I thought, justice is served.
     Now after a little reflection I am thinking a bit differently.  For all I know this guy might have won the Lottery and bought a condo in Costa Rica.  Or maybe he's dead and pushing up daisies.  None of my business whether he is doing well or not but who am I to believe that God would be as vindictive and petty as me.  Justice is not vengeance.
     The friend with whom I first had coffee in this café and I were both attending an evangelical church that had what it called a "Mercy Ministry."  This had to do with acts of kindness, charity and help towards vulnerable people, notably the poor and harmless.  The people running this church were basically politically right wing and rather harsh towards vulnerable people, at least if they happened to be single low income males.  There appeared to be an unspoken judgement that these people ought to be working for a living and that they were getting everything they deserved.  Any kindness rendered to them was not really justice but mercy since it was implied that they likely deserved much worse treatment than what we in our mercy ministries had to offer them. They regard as mercy what we in kinder and more liberal houses of worship refer to as justice.
     It is my understanding that when God shows us kindness then we can call it mercy.  From his hand we actually deserve much worse but instead of looking at what we deserve he sees the love and compassion that we need.  God is pure, holy and righteous.  And without sin.  We humans are none of the above and this is why it is my belief that when God who is righteous is kind to us it is mercy, because whether we deserve it or not he is love and loves us but when we who are unrighteous are kind to one another it is justice.  From God we all receive mercy, and when we channel his mercy to one another we call it justice.