text; un: anonymous

[guangyao]

A curious, hypothetical question to put forwards to people here after reading something.

If someone you know commits crimes up to the point of murder, how far should the punishment go before they can consider it enough? Would it ever be enough?

Alternatively while I have this thing open; all the coffee tastes the same. Is there truly a difference between the different kinds the stores are offering?

[ Look, it's hard work being stuck in a bathtub as a mermaid sometimes, okay?]

Comments

[ text ] un: chu wanning

[wooden_one]

Why does it matter how it tastes as long as it does what it's supposed to?

[As far as he's concerned, coffee is pretty much just medicine and it's point is to keep him awake so he can work and read and do stuff through the night. So that's a simple question to answer so he gets it out of the way first.]

That's a complicated question. Does the person who committed the crime regret what they did? Will they be likely to repeat this action? What reason did they have for the murder? What can be done to give peace and justice for the deceased and their family?

If it were someone I know, then I should also reflect on why I wasn't able to prevent it from happening.

No amount of punishments could bring the dead back to life, so it's more important to focus on preventing the same from happening again and to make amends.

text; un: anonymous

[guangyao]

You mean to say that until the criminal repents, it will never end no matter what.

And I wouldn't know those answers when it's all about an imaginary other. Though if they are unlikely to repeat their actions and have some regret, then at some point perhaps they can be forgiven. Then again that is the choice for those wronged.


[Jin Guangyao pauses, wondering if Lan Xichen feels much these days about what happened.]

Preventing?

[wooden_one]

Perhaps.

Indeed, it would be up to the wronged to decide when to offer forgiveness.

[Probably, most everyone back home would have assumed by prevention he really meant 'fight and/or subjugate them'. But that wasn't actually it.]

I won't pretend there aren't people who commit murder for reasons such as greed or pride.

But aren't there also those who make that mistake because they were backed into a corner? Because they felt they had no other recourse? Because they had something to protect? Because they had experienced one cruelty too many and couldn't take it anymore?

Hypothetically speaking, if this person I knew was the former then why did I not stop them? Was I ignorant of their nature? If I had been deceived then I too, have some blame to shoulder for failing to prevent this tragedy and I bear responsibility in stopping them.

If it is the latter, then that means I had failed to protect them or give them help when they needed it. It would mean I had failed in my responsibilites as a cultivator and as someone who knew their circumstances and could have been a position to stop them before they came to that point.