Crime is Pride

Hallo reader, assigned post time again. Yet again, I must valiantly spar with a forced topic for the sake of academics. Yes, yes I know, tis a terrifying fate indeed. But thou, reader, can support me in my endeavorous pursuit of this mission, from which I may not return. Today I have to react, either by refutation or confirmation, to this little gem:

In the following excerpt from Antigone, by the classical Greek playwright Sophocles, the wise Teiresias observes:

Think: all men make mistakes
But a good man yeilds when he
Knows his course is wrong,
And repairs the evil: The only
Crime is pride.

 

…Let us pause and think about this for a moment, shall we? If this quote is valid, and I mean universally valid, in the apparent context of the commission of a crime, then it raises serious implications. Are we to say then, that as long as someone recognizes their offense, repents of it, and at least attempts to reconcile as best their situation allows them, they  have essentially done nothing wrong? Does this mean then, that I can inflict torture, or pain, or even death upon another without warranting any moral fault as long as I simply apologize and attempt to console the victim? Surely this seems a ludicrous assertion. Apologizing does not erase the past or ease the souls of those still living. Perhaps such acts as murder are an exception, since reconciliation would be impossible. What could I possibly do, say, or offer as repayment for a life? There is nothing that holds such value, nothing that could ever atone. Any pitiful attempt on my part would in fact be insulting, as it would devalue the one I have taken away. A grieving family wants nothing from the one who destroyed their parent or child, except maybe their death. If this is the case, then mayhap my own life would be expected as payment for my sins. If it is thus, then would offering this up absolve me? Would that heal the pain of the family left behind? Does it erase that which I have committed? No. Of course it erases nothing. My death would not bring back the dead. It would not make the family feel their loss any less. It would not change the emptiness which I have inflicted upon them. Repentance changes nothing. It cannot absolve you. A murder is guilty of far more than simple pride.

Yet, even now I can hear some of you. I can hear the cries of extreme examples and unfairness to the context. I can hear the insistence that something as severe as murder was not what the author had foremost in their mind. Well then, I do suppose we should at least try to attribute some credibility to this statement, through use of a more minor example. A petty thief perhaps, can serve the spirit of this ideology. If a man, on impulse, steals an object from a store, but later repents of this act and willingly returns it to the store, has he truly committed a crime? After all, the man is compensating the owner of the object, and offering himself up to any form of retribution they might desire. Does he truly warrant moral fault in this situation? The answer of course, is a resounding yes. Repentance does not erase the act morally. A crime has still been committed. He has still done something wrong. The shopkeeper may show mercy, and forgive the thief. He may choose to forget the experience, and reward the man for his honesty and repentance. But in the end, he has still done something wrong, that warrants forgiveness. We do not need to forgive a man who has committed no crime. Yes, we all make mistakes, but they are still in essence mistakes. The mercy or altruism of the injured party does not absolve the thief of his actions. He must still answer to them in the end. He must still face the things he has done, and possibly live with this shadow looming in his past for the rest of his life. Crime is not just about punishment, or refusing to admit mistakes. Crime is not just about forgiveness or the spirit of right and wrong. Crime is not just about rewarding good actions for being good actions, even if they follow bad ones. The thief that repents may truly reform, he may truly repent or reconcile, but that does not mean he was never a thief.

-BlackFox

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