TM - 49 - Who would you like to see get their final comeuppance?

[on_holy_ground]

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
Matthew 7:1-2

There are none whom I would wish to see get their final comeuppance, for a great variety of reasons. The first is the very reason that is stated in this passage. I have to many faults of my own to ever judge someone else for theirs, and have committed to many wrongs to ever condemn anyone else for what they have done. It is simply not my place to judge anyone, for anything. I also believe that if I were to wish some kind of grief or death upon someone else, for any reason at all, then I would be no better than the person on whom I wished such a thing. Finally, there is my firm belief that it is possible for anyone to find redemption for his or her crimes. No matter what someone might have done in the past, it is always possible to change their ways and do right in the future. It is simply a matter of choosing to do so, and then following through with that choice.

Comments

For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

...for any reason at all, then I would be no better than the person on whom I wished such a thing. Finally, there is my firm belief that it is possible for anyone to find redemption for his or her crimes. No matter what someone might have done in the past, it is always possible to change their ways and do right in the future.

Forgive me, Priest, if I do not share the same views as you do. Nothing, which you have stated in this question, is remotely like what it is like in the real world. Perhaps if you were to ever step out of the church that you hide yourself in, you will see that.

Do not preach to me about redemption and about choosing to change. Most things, as you well know, are out of our hands. Something’s go beyond us and something’s are beneath us. Do you honestly think that it was right for Fernand, Danglars, and Villefort to do what they did to me? I was an innocent man priest. I was the one that suffered for their sins. I had my comeuppance because of what they had done to me, and you would sit there and believe that I am the one without redemption?

You do not judge, and yet your beliefs are rancid with it.

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

I have been wronged Count. Do not sit there and tell me that I know nothing about the real world when you yourself know nothing about what has happened to me.

I did not say that you were without redemption. I said that I feel that about way about my own actions. I do not judge you anymore than I judge anyone else.

What do you know of what I believe, or are you simply basing your opinions of that on the beliefs of the church I serve?

Re: For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remember the story about how you were wronged just ‘recently’ and yet that did not wake up to anything of the outside world. I do not doubt that you were wronged, my friend, but you are skating a thin like of hypocrisy.

I obviously didn’t read into her sentiment right and for that I must humbly apologize.

Finally, there is my firm belief that it is possible for anyone to find redemption for his or her crimes. No matter what someone might have done in the past, it is always possible to change their ways and do right in the future. It is simply a matter of choosing to do so, and them following through with that choice.

This is the only statement that I do not agree with. I care not with what church you are affiliated. It is only your beliefs that I would like to know of. It is the fact that it is often improbable for anyone to find redemption. They didn’t find thiers. They didn’t care to. In the future, they would have done the same and they did. They used their lies and their ways to build up their own greed while I wasted away fourteen years of my life in the Château Di’f. Did they care for me? No. It wasn’t possible for them to do that.

Yes. It was a matter of choosing to do so, and they did not. People are not as holy as you, Priest. People are often vile and putrid creatures with only greed and power on their minds. You told me once that you were this way. Do you remember? You told me what you lusted for and you went for it. Did you choose redemption? No. Did you seek forgiveness? No. It came to you with that quickening that you took from that other person that you told me about. Your mind didn’t want that, but you got it anyway.

It makes me wonder if people can actually be sorry for the things that they did. Is sorry simply another word that means nothing at all? I know that Fernand, Danglars and Villefort will never say sorry and I will not believe them if they did. They do not mean it. They meant every action against Mercèdès and I and for that, they paid.

So you see, father, it is not a simple matter of anything. It can’t be.

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I am skating a thin line, perhaps not, but regardless, I will stand behind my beliefs.

I did not say that it was probable that they would find it, or that they would even choose to take that path. I simply said that it is possible that they could find it.

Let us say that I did condemn someone, and they were put to death in some manner, and then later I find out that they were thinking of changing their ways. Who was I to take that chance away from them?

Re: For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

How could you know that they were not just pleading for thier life? That sounds like the talk of a desperate man who is about to meet his death, then anything else.

But why did you condemn them in the first place? What did he do that would cause you to condemn them?

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

Perhaps, although it was not him that told me, it was his wife.

You see, the man had been a thief. He had been stealing food from my soldiers to feed his family. Now I realize that this is not as horrid crime as that which was done to you, and I do not pretend that it was. What he did was done out of love and not greed or jealousy. But the point is simply that I took that chance to change and do something different with his life away from him. I judged him, and I condemned him, and he never got the opportunity to change because of me.

What right did I have to take that chance away?

Re: For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

None. You sound exactly like Fernand, Danglars, and Villefort.

Or, sounded as it was and I am not sure how I feel about that, Priest.

However, you are not the only hypocrite here and I know this and I do apologize for it.

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

There is no need for an apology, as we are all hypocrites in one fashion or another, it is simply a point of view.

Re: For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

How very true, Priest. It often astounds me how wise you are, even with your hypocrisy.

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

Many things can be learned by listening to others mistakes and problems, rather than making those same mistakes yourself. It is said to be the difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Re: For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

And tell me, what do you have? Do you have knowledge or do you have wisdom?

How do you know which you have when your words contradict everything that you believe?

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

I have both, as do we all.

Perhaps I have not been clear enough in my statements. How is it that you think my words are contradicting Edmond?

Re: For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

..."but that is the line that lies at the heart of my beliefs. That the sin of one person impacts not only his or her own life, but also the lives of all the people that they touch, much like the ripples that flow from a stone that is dropped in a still pond. Eventually that small stone will influence the entire pond, even if only in a small way. We must watch over and help one another if we are to keep our world safe, happy, and free of the ripples that sometimes threaten to engulf it."

Do you remember this statement?

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

Yes, but that statement does not contradict this one.

Re: For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

Oh?

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

In order to free the world from these ripples, we much help our fellow man find redemption wherever it is possible, and work to keep people safe from harm. That does not mean that I would want to harm another in order to accomplish that goal. Therefore there is no contradiction.

Re: For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

However, isn't helping one towards redemption an admittance that he isn't deemed worthy in your eyes and hence the reason to try to redeem him? You knowing go out of your way to keep others safe from his or her harm because you know that this person that you want to have redemption is not pure in heart and they want to hurt others. Therefore you are judging with knowledge that they need redemption.

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

Then perhaps you are right, and redemption is the wrong word to use in this case. Perhaps the word that I truly wish to use would be forgiveness.

Re: For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

I see. Yes. Forgiveness. Something that I have yet found for myself or for others.

I am working on it, although I find it very hard.

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

I sometimes think that forgiveness is both the easiest, and the hardest thing a person can give.

Re: For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

Or recieve in some cases.

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

*nods* It can often be a difficult thing to accept as well.

Re: For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

I am fully aware of that.

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

I know.

Re: For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

Is there anything that you wish to be forgiven of, priest?

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

Almost everyone has something that they wish to be forgiven for, and I am no different.

Re: For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

And what, may I ask, is that?

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

The deaths of thousands of innocent people, either by my hand directly, or by my orders.

Re: For the Priest

[the-countmc.livejournal.com]

Will you ever get the forgiveness or the redemption that you want from your actions?

Re: For the Priest

[on-holy-ground.livejournal.com]

Emry's forgave me, even as I took his head, and I have forgiven myself as I forgive others. As for redemption, I don't know, but I will continue to try and work towards it for as long as I'm alive to do so.