I’ve recently been thinking a little bit about vengeance after reading about a motorcyclist who killed another driver in self-defense last month and the subsequent decision not to charge her. Against my better judgment, I read the article’s comments, some of which applauded the killing and the driver’s deserving of it.
There was a time in the fairly recent past when my vindictive side would be satiated anytime time I heard about a wrongdoer who was injured or even killed in the act of his or her transgression. I think a lot of people empathize with this feeling, especially when we read about the occasional self-defense a homeowner or business owner inflicts on an intruder.
There’s a sense in which we should be okay with how natural consequences play out after someone acts irresponsibly. In this case, the driver took the gamble of confronting the motorcyclist and ultimately had to contend with the fact that his victim might just defend herself. Instead of saying this man got what he deserved, perhaps the more charitable outlook is to see this as someone reaping what he sowed.
However, I’m also apt to believe that the optimal result did not happen here. The fact that a gun was involved greatly magnified the risk of something going awry. What if the male driver wrestled the gun away and shot the motorcyclist instead? Or worse, an innocent driver got caught in the crossfire?
I’ve also noticed that the retrospective scrutiny that’s taken place on this tragedy all revolves around a declaration of legal circumstances. The motorcyclist wasn’t charged because her claims of self-defense could not be legally disproven – but did she instigate any provocation that led to the driver’s reckless aggression? We certainly don’t have the man’s testimony to prove one way or another.
Moreover, I’ve also observed that many were judging this man’s deserving of life or death based solely on the final actions of his life. Perhaps we were given the whole record of this man’s life and then given the chance to judge – would we say the same thing about him? I think our inclination to alter our responses to such hypothetical cases reveals a lot about our fallible sense of justice.
As a Christian, I’m also reminded of the sobering reality that all mankind is worth of immediate physical and spiritual death. Providential grace alone is what restrains God’s execution of an immediate death sentence upon any of us. So while it may not be incorrect to say that this driver was indeed deserving of death, the Gospel tells us that the rest of us are as well.
Sherwin Lee 