A Humble Request for an Undeserved Reinstatement.

 

                       By Adam Armstrong

 

     If the charge against me was murder, my hands would be stained crimson with the blood of my victim. I am guilty. Justice will not allow me to escape the consequence of my lawless and dishonest action. It demands a price to be paid,  which is commensurate with the violation. Under the demands of justice I merit no leniency whatsoever, but by the virtue of mercy I beseech you to reinstate me as a student at ABAC. I can claim no right to this compassion. I do not deserve it, but it is we, the undeserving, that have need of mercy. It is justice that serves the just and only mercy that can serve the unjust.

     It is a paradox that the only people who have a right to mercy are the very ones that have no need of it. Those that are honest, virtuous, benevolent, and righteous, command our compassion. It is their due. We may chose not to give it, but they never the less deserve it. Of course no one is totally good nor totally bad. We all spend at lest a little time as the good, and will also spend time as the bad. When we do good, as defined by an excepted value system, we owe no debt to justice. We therefor have no need of mercy. We are entitled to compassion. It is when we comment a action that is contrary to an excepted value system that justice demands penance. We then have no entitlement, no rights to leniency, and are undeserving of our fellowman's compassion. It is then that mercy can temper justice. It is then that man may rise to a more godly state. It is then that forgiveness can be given to he that deserves no forgiveness. Mercy is a virtue, but it is no virtue to allow mercy to rob justice. I have done that which is wrong. I should be punished harshly. If I am to be expelled, it is no worse than I deserve. I do not wish to escape the consequence of my action. I ask only that the penalty be other than expulsion. This is the mercy that I plead for.