We live in a time where many people are very much maligned for heinous acts. And they should be. This is not an apologist essay. It is more an exploration of squaring away what the Christian faith says about forgiveness and holding people accountable. And given the relatively long history of both human cruelty and Christianity, this is not a particular new discussion. So, I guess what I want to do in this essay is explore it for myself.

Human cruelty, large or small, is not particularly new. But we live in a time where the atrocities of particular men come to light every day. This includes the criminals from the MeToo movement to policy brutality. As opposed to real systemic crimes such as child labor in sweat shops, children soldiers and sex trades, these particular crimes can be laid at the hands of individuals and we want them to suffer for what they have done. This, too, is not a new impulse. But I cannot help but remember my faith when I think of these men and women. And when they come to mind, I cannot help but think that justice and forgiveness can exist side by side.

The key to this realization is that forgiveness is not mercy. To pull from the Christian Bible, we are asked to give onto Caesar what is Caesar's. And in a nation where church and state are separate entities, the paradox of justice and forgiveness can exist. The forgiveness lies in the heart of the individuals maligned and the justice comes from the state system because a nation unwilling to uphold its laws is not a nation.

However, I think where we get the matters confused is when individual crimes are laid at the hands of systems that may not be their causes. A system cannot be forgiven the same way that an individual can, it can only be studied and reformed. So, with the two major issues that I brought up, it is worth determining if a system composed of a few bad apples really is a corrupt system or not.

To try a system in the judicial sense is to examine its laws and policies and determine whether or not they promote acts that we have decided are reprehensible. With the police, there is a more solid system to be adjudicated but with the #MeToo movement, it is more amorphous and filled with compromises that we on the outside may not truly understand. In short, to truly make sure that there are no longer victims from these systems is first separate the criminals from the disadvantages brought upon by the systems. And then work to alleviate the disadvantages caused by the system itself.

In conclusion, only the individual can truly forgive and as such, I cannot speak for whether there are truly unforgivable acts. In my short life, I have not been hurt much but I do my best to forgive if I have as I have found that moving forward with malice in the heart is not good. But, as a society, we should strive for reform in the various sectors where we believe that crimes against humans are being made possible and do our best to reduce them. As for bad apples, I think it is naïve to believe that they will never exist. And this is where, on a system level, I call for using a cool head to determine where the system failed and where the individual failed. For while revolution may look like a viable situation, it is unknown what will spring up in its place. As such, I advocate for reform over revolution.

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Memento Mori. Memento Viva.

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