May 21 came and went one week ago without Harold Camping's predicted time zone chasing earthquake. I spent the day driving from New York City to Cape May, NJ with family and not thinking too much about Camping or Family Radio. Then the news reports started rolling in. Sure, I did my level best to ignore the news, but there's only so much Žižek a fellow can read on the beach.
What troubles me is not what happens to Camping. Frankly, he's a dolt at best and a pitiless charlatan at worst (and more probable). What worries me is what has and will continue to happen to his followers. A few folks on Facebook posted thoughtful musings on the lives of the people who believed in this false prophecy. I came across the story of a man from Long Island who had spent down his life savings to spread Camping's word. This man spent what he thought would be the last of the world's time in Times Square, believing that he was warning his fellow human beings of the imminent and immanent apocalypse. When 6pm came and went, this fellow was left crestfallen and surrounded by reporters who all demanded to know what he was going to do with his life now.
In reflecting on all of this, my thoughts turn toward the commands to love attributed to Jesus and to the Buddhist principle of compassion. By both measures, my heart breaks for those who--admittedly foolishly--put their hopes and trust in the wrong place. I don't think too many of them need to fear a supernatural "Hell" any longer. They're now reviled, mocked openly and occasionally broke and newly homeless.
Of course, the news cycle rolls on. Two New York City police officers, who apparently wanted to really live into the epithet of being "pigs," were acquitted of charges of raping a drunk woman in 2008. Our system of delicately balanced laws and punishments continues to fail those who were not fortunate enough to be born into privileged genders, races, economic classes or sexualities. The wolves have never left the doorsteps of "the least of these."
All of this brings me around to the central questions: can "justice" and "compassion" coexist? Do we have to give up some of one to get any of the other? In a dark mood, I'm tempted to say "no" and "yes," respectively: they cannot coexist in full expression and we must mitigate or temper one with the other. But what does "tempered justice" or "mitigated compassion" look like? I don't think the former would satisfy Micah nor would the latter be of much interest to the Buddha.
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