Beneath this costume
Hardly a day goes by that I do not hear myself or someone else I respect saying something about the way an individual, mother nature or the God of their understanding should function. In fact, just this morning after seeing short video a friend of mine had posted on his Facebook page I heard myself saying, “This is the way all judges should function.”
It was luck, happenstance, fate or divine interventions that I saw this video. I do not browse the postings of my Facebook Friends. At most I post my bog on Facebook. Occasionally, however, I will get a notice that someone I know had posted something which piques my interest and I will, if time permits, check it out. Even less often I will then scroll down to see what else this person has posted. This morning, Richard Deenis re- posted a short video which has gone viral. This video features Rhode Island Judge Fran Caprio ruling in a couple of cases and then saying, “I don’t wear a badge under my robe. I wear a heart under my robe.” In one of the cases which is featured on the video a woman gets a ticket marked 9:59 a.m. for parking at a place one could not park at until 10:00 a.m. In another case a woman had parked partly on a sidewalk. The fine is $50.00 and he asks the woman and her daughter if she pays the fine how much money she will have left for breakfast. She says $5.00 your honor. He dismisses both the charge and, thus, the fines suggesting in the latter case that the mother buy her daughter breakfast.
I suspect that the reason this video is going viral is that most of us believe that a little common sense and a heart would often do more to create a just and safe community than attempting to practice zero tolerance for anyone breaking the letter of the law. The officer who gave the woman a ticket for being parked one second too early at the parking spot or the one who ticketed the woman who was a little on the sidewalk were doing his or her duty as they saw it. Technically I suppose none of us should break the law no matter how trivial it seems.
It seems easy for us humans to fall into a self-righteous, judgmental, legalistic approach to community issues. Yet, when it comes to a situation which directly affects us we may suddenly morph into the person who is in favor of a little common sense and a heart.
Perhaps we often forget to ask ourselves our motivation for taking an action. Potential motivations are:
To prove who is has the power.
We are angry because in a similar situation no one showed us any compassion.
We want to punish the person because we have tried to be perfect.
We want to see the world through very simplistic (black and white) lens.
We are fearful that the God of our understanding will be unhappy if we do not do w
what we can to ensure that HIS/HER law is obeyed. (Our concept of god is often, I fear, a small minded, weak ego being who gets his/her feelings hurt very easily.)
I think that Judge Caprio echo’s what makes sense to us. I think this is why it is going viral. I also think his behavior makes sense to the God of my understanding.
Perhaps we could all check our motives more often and allow our hearts and our common sense to have a strong role in creating a community which would be safer, more just and even more financially stable.
Written July 26, 2018
Hardly a day goes by that I do not hear myself or someone else I respect saying something about the way an individual, mother nature or the God of their understanding should function. In fact, just this morning after seeing short video a friend of mine had posted on his Facebook page I heard myself saying, “This is the way all judges should function.”
It was luck, happenstance, fate or divine interventions that I saw this video. I do not browse the postings of my Facebook Friends. At most I post my bog on Facebook. Occasionally, however, I will get a notice that someone I know had posted something which piques my interest and I will, if time permits, check it out. Even less often I will then scroll down to see what else this person has posted. This morning, Richard Deenis re- posted a short video which has gone viral. This video features Rhode Island Judge Fran Caprio ruling in a couple of cases and then saying, “I don’t wear a badge under my robe. I wear a heart under my robe.” In one of the cases which is featured on the video a woman gets a ticket marked 9:59 a.m. for parking at a place one could not park at until 10:00 a.m. In another case a woman had parked partly on a sidewalk. The fine is $50.00 and he asks the woman and her daughter if she pays the fine how much money she will have left for breakfast. She says $5.00 your honor. He dismisses both the charge and, thus, the fines suggesting in the latter case that the mother buy her daughter breakfast.
I suspect that the reason this video is going viral is that most of us believe that a little common sense and a heart would often do more to create a just and safe community than attempting to practice zero tolerance for anyone breaking the letter of the law. The officer who gave the woman a ticket for being parked one second too early at the parking spot or the one who ticketed the woman who was a little on the sidewalk were doing his or her duty as they saw it. Technically I suppose none of us should break the law no matter how trivial it seems.
It seems easy for us humans to fall into a self-righteous, judgmental, legalistic approach to community issues. Yet, when it comes to a situation which directly affects us we may suddenly morph into the person who is in favor of a little common sense and a heart.
Perhaps we often forget to ask ourselves our motivation for taking an action. Potential motivations are:
To prove who is has the power.
We are angry because in a similar situation no one showed us any compassion.
We want to punish the person because we have tried to be perfect.
We want to see the world through very simplistic (black and white) lens.
We are fearful that the God of our understanding will be unhappy if we do not do w
what we can to ensure that HIS/HER law is obeyed. (Our concept of god is often, I fear, a small minded, weak ego being who gets his/her feelings hurt very easily.)
I think that Judge Caprio echo’s what makes sense to us. I think this is why it is going viral. I also think his behavior makes sense to the God of my understanding.
Perhaps we could all check our motives more often and allow our hearts and our common sense to have a strong role in creating a community which would be safer, more just and even more financially stable.
Written July 26, 2018
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