Killing to Prevent?

In the war against Irak for the very first time you could hear the expression that that war was : “A war for prevention”.

In the intention of those who used that expression was the idea that in order to avoid a future crime is not only right but is a duty to intervene even if there will be innocent people who will “pay the price”

They reason more or less this way: You, (Person, Organization, Country) in the future could be dangerous for us and thus we feel authorized to neutralize you in a way or onother.

Which future for the punishment?

 A few years ago I took part in a Meeting organized by the National Conference Volunteer of the Justice, the subject was : “What kind of punishment there will be in the future?”

I remember I was struck by the speech given by Doct. Giuseppe Magno, Chief in charge of the Department of the Juvenile Justice. This was his answer: The future Punishment will be the Prevention!

Prevention in the sense of to avoid the reasons that originate the crimes and, of course, the criminals.

To Prevent is better than to cure after something has happened

To Prevent, say the wise people of every generation, is better than to cure!

The great Italian saint Giovanni Bosco had, at the end of the last century, taken this wise idea and had founded a Congregation, the Salesians, the Charisma of this Congregation was the “Prevention System”.

This Saint used to go around to find the street children in order to teach them a job and have them good Citizens and good Christians, to prevent them to become criminals.

To Prevent? It is a useless job!

There are always been, nevertheless, people that believe they are wiser than anybody. You could put their idea this way:

To eliminate, to destroy (whetever the way is) is better than to prevent and of course much better than to cure.

Sometimes I wonder : How many people and organizations nowodays think this way?

Foe exemple :

-         When those who support abortion brings many reasons is not because this newborn will bring problems in the future so why not to “prevent” to “intervene” before the problems comes? Why to wait for the problems to come You have to intervene before.

-         For those who  are in favor of the Eutanasia “the sweet death”  the reason is the same. To prevent a problem, an uneasy situation in the future. If a person can be in the future a problem for itself and for others because of sufferings, handycaps etc. why not to give this person the possibilità  to “pass away” from this life without sufferings? Otherwise they will have troubles and they will give troubles to others.

On the base of this idea we could say to the unemployed people : Why you should live a very awful life in misery and troubles of all sort. Why not to prevent all this problems, sufferings, and dangers (because unemployed people are dangerous for the society). Why not to give up? Why not to pass away from the misery of this life? Never there will be jobs for everybody!

If this were right for the unemployed of the western rich Country it would be more right for the people of the second, third and fourth world. Why to suffer? The life of a poor person in this such  worlds is marked by hungry, sickness, troubles of every sort. Why not to prevent all this by simple to disappear, to pass away and go in the next and  better world?

The "final solution" given by humankind

If you stop and think it over it seems that the Nazi Ideology thought the same way: There is no place for everybody in this world so not only we can but we must eliminate the inferior people, the inferior races in order to assure the superior race everything it need. It was even considered by Hitler a “historical duty” to destroy the inferior races

When I think about this a word from the Gospel springs out in my mind: When Jesus, speaking about the devil calls him : father of all lies and omicide from the beginning.

 The "ultimate solution" given by God

The solution by God is very simple: In Jesus  God shows Himself not as a God who “eliminates”, who “kills”, who “takes the life off” people in order to avoid problems. The image of God Jesus presents us is just the opposite: The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is a God who in Jesus “got eliminate”, who “got killed”, who “give his life” for the solution of the future problems.

If we think it over, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will understand that this solution is the best!

In the light of God we understand that the “only real problem” is selfishness! And the only solution is To give life not to take it off!

Fr. Oliviero Bruno