Would have I done the same?

It is half past midnight and I can’t sleep. I have just come back from an incident where two thieves were caught and beaten by some village youths. I heard my tribe being insulted, falsely blamed and shamed because the two thieves happen to be from my community. They were beaten, tied, and one was stripped half naked. The road side was stained with blood.

The two were caught for stealing vehicle parts. I wasn’t there when the beating took place but I was told that they were beaten for denying to have committed the act. They admitted that they were guilty. But what was to unfold after that affected me so deeply that I couldn’t sleep. So, I switched on the light again and turned on my laptop to write my thoughts.

The thieves are thieves; they are lawbreakers who need to be caught, put on trial, and be punished. We have policemen to catch them and lawyers to put them on trial and pass sentences according to the book. But what about some young hot blooded members of an NGO who take the law into their own hands, thrash criminals, then still talk about giving punishment to the criminals according to the law of the land? Who is more guilty now? It is more dreadful to fall into their hands than the police. You won’t get a fair trial and the trial begins after severe thrashing.

The police arrived late as usual. They were sent back by the youths saying they will resolve it. They went. What need is there for police or lawyers when some hot blooded guys control the society? Then, someone hurled insults at the thieves, then on their community. This guy then put the blame of car robberies on the whole community. He raised his voice to say that by the grace of God, one car thief was caught recently, who also happen to be from the community as the present ones. ‘What is happening to the community?’ He asks.

One guy asked the thieves for the truth, ‘aren’t you also Christians?’ One of them nodded. He asks them to confess and reveal all the past robberies that they have committed. They answered that this was the second time.

The Police came again, but by then, it was decided that someone close to the thieves take the risk and let them go home for the night. The case will be discussed some other day. Some guys from the NGO told the thieves to be thankful that their hands and legs are not broken. One of them couldn’t stand on his feet and had to be propped as he limped to the vehicle.

If the thieves were from some other community, or if I happen to be from the community of the NGO, would have I reacted differently? Would have I done the same? In my own place, have my people been treating outsiders similarly? Perhaps, Yes. My heart sinks to think of this, that I may be less sensitive if such things were suffered by some other community. More subtle but the same; I have been guilty many times of stereotyping others, generalizing to some community by looking at some individual. It is also sobering to think, ‘Will my impression of the other community members who thrashed two of my fellow members be the same again? Will I be able to love them as much as myself?’ My answer is: If not for the cross of Christ, I can’t. But because of the power of the cross, God will help me to forgive and love. That is the only power I have.

And Oh, to think how we abuse the name of God! Not knowing our hands are stained, we point fingers at others with God on our lips. I feel that God is closer to those two thieves whose guilt is before their very eyes than those people who thrash people and demand for the truth. It was as though the story of the woman caught in adultery, found in the gospels of the Bible was played out. Thieves are thieves, and there was no way to defend their act. But how innocent are those who claim to be clean and hurl punches and insults?