A bad man, happy, is a man without the least inkling that his actions do not ‘answer’, that they are not in accord with the laws of the universe.
A perception of this truth lies at the back of the universal human feeling that bad men ought to suffer. It is no use turning up our noses at this feeling, as if it where wholly base. On it’s mildest level it appeals to everyone’s sense of justice. Once when my brother and I, as very small boys, were drawing pictures at the same table, I jerked his elbow and caused him to make an irrelevant line across the middle of his work; the matter was amicably settled by my allowing him to draw a line of equal length across mine. That is, I was ‘put in his place’, made to see my negligence from the other end. On a sterner level the same idea appears as ‘retributive punishment’, or ‘giving a man what he deserves’. Some enlightened people would like to banish all conceptions of retribution or desert from their theory of punishment and place its value wholly in the deterrence of others or the reform of the criminal himself. They do not see that by so doing they render all punishment unjust. What can be more immoral than to inflict suffering on me for the sake of deterring others if I do not deserve it? And if I do deserver it, you are admitting the claims of ‘retribution’. And what can be more outrageous than to catch me and submit me to a disagreeable process of moral improvement without my consent, unless (once more) I deserve it?
–from The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
How can one measure how much he deserves by punishment of what the other has done? Simply drawing a line on a piece of paper can definitely not be repaid back by allowing the other to draw it on theirs. That has already gone to the level of playing around. Besides, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Messing up one's work may end up messing one's life or show dominance over the other, rather compensation/ acknowledgement of the other's suffering due to his act would be fairer.
ReplyDeleteThis is about what is 'fair' and 'just'. It is NOT about what a person should do, nor is it about how the justice system in place should work.
ReplyDeleteChildren are born with a desire for fairness. (Not that children always practice it - but they do know what is the 'right' thing) And by justice, remember the symbol for justice - a balance? Drawing a line for drawing a line - is fair.
I think the point C.S. Lewis is trying to make here is this:
That hell is not as outrageous as it seems, if we realize that we deserve it.