October 9, 2016
Dear Subscriber:
Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of
view. This week’s theme is peace and brotherly love, in honor of the fact that
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Muharram, the Muslim New Year, fall
just one day apart.
Today’s poem is a set of proverbs on justice and love.
I welcome comments on my poems at
http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
Yours,
Nick Gordon
PROVERBS ON JUSTICE AND LOVE
1. Every person, no matter how horrible, is a child of God
and is therefore loved.
2. The causes of evil are pain, lust, and fear.
3. Since evil is both caused by pain and causes pain, it is
self-perpetuating.
4. Thus one way to diminish evil is to answer pain with love
and understanding.
5. Violence may be necessary in self-defense or in pursuit
of justice, but violence in pursuit of vengeance is evil.
6. People have an innate sense of justice, just as they have
of symmetry or balance. Even infants know when a punishment is just. Parents
can tell from the sound of the cry.
7. Without just rules there is anarchy or rebellion, in
which everyone's survival is threatened. Thus just rules and equitable
enforcement are the primary responsibilities of the State.
8. Without justice the weak are defenseless. Without mercy
justice is a robot that knows not what it does.
9. Justice diminishes evil by diminishing fear. Love
diminishes evil by diminishing pain and lust.
10. Failure to discipline a child who does wrong teaches
weakness. Discipline in anger teaches evil. Discipline out of justice teaches
order. Discipline with love teaches goodness.
© by Nicholas Gordon
Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I
chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/juslov.html. For more philosophical
poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html.
This week’s theme: Peace and Brotherly Love.
October 3: Ismail and Yitzhak Are Half-Brothers
October 4: Hatred Has No Color, Creed, or Race
October 5: My Home Is Here, America
October 6: Revel in Your Righteousness
October 7: Hope Is the Only Road to Peace
October 8: Peace Is Just a Brief Time Out from Killing
October 9: Proverbs on Justice and Love
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