Instant Overreaction
This may not sit well with some people, but here goes: There are bad things that happen to good people in this world…and often, there’s nothing that can be done about it.
That doesn’t mean we don’t try to solve what ails society. But sometimes, it’s out of our hands.
As a lawyer, people would come to me with a story of being wronged, and often they were. But that doesn’t mean there’s a legal recovery for it…and even if there was, there was nothing to guarantee that the wrongdoer could be forced to pay compensation for the harm. You can try, but not every wrong had a suitable legal remedy.
Similarly, you can try to outlaw certain behavior, but evil people, or those who suffer from a condition that impairs proper judgment, aren’t going to follow the law. Sure, there are things you can do to limit the adverse impact of bad behavior, but you can’t fix everything. Sometimes, inexplicably, evil wins.
Frustration is a natural reaction. And it’s frankly healthy, to release certain pent-up emotions. But we need to be realistic about our reactions to societal problems. There are no easy answers, certainly when it comes to conforming some people’s behavior.
It’s against the law, and at least one commandment, to straight-out kill another person. For virtually all of us, a law is not necessary—we couldn’t conceive of doing it anyway. But for that small segment of society that is tempted, we put a law in place to hopefully provide some deterrent. But it’s not absolute.
So once again this week, there are cries of frustration, calling for someone to do something. But let’s be clear-eyed about it all. Try, absolutely. But keep proper perspective. There is evil in the world. And we can’t stop all of it. Perhaps that alone is the greatest frustration of all.
