“The quality of mercy is not strained…it is twice blest. It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.”
— Portia in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice
The subject of mercy is in the news lately, not the least of which because Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde raised the issue before Donald Trump in her post-inaugural sermon. He claims to feel insulted, but more likely it’s shame he feels, or the stirrings of humiliation.
Budde’s sermon was appropriately focused on mercy and compassion; of the esteemed qualities of leadership, benevolence ranks at the top, and her urgings reflected not just the highest Christian values, but the highest values of all major spiritual teachings. That they fell on Trump’s deaf ears is disappointing but not surprising. Ours is an age of selfishness and our chosen leaders reflect it.
The Bishop’s name is notable; it’s etymology harkens to Indo-European. Budde (pronounced “Budee”) shares its linguistic roots with both Bodhi and Buddha, derived from “Bewed,” with it’s meaning of “awakened” or to “understand thoroughly.” As such, it is a remarkable convergence of ancient and contemporary, an ancient term recognizing the fulfillment of spiritual attainment and contemporary social policies that threaten the lives and welfare of the poorest among us, those who have been dispossessed.
The Bishop’s sermon reminds me of Attorney Joseph Welch’s shaming of then Senator Joe McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954. McCarthy and his aide, attorney Roy Cohn (yes, the same Roy Cohn that later became Donald Trump’s attorney), shamelessly attacked the reputation of a young attorney working for Welch, claiming he was a communist. Welch responded to the moment, saying “Until this moment Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or recklessness,” continuing as McCarthy tried to interrupt, “Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?”
That public rebuke popped McCarthy’s balloon, and the nation turned away from him. Rebuked by his own party, he died three years later at 48 years old. In our current times, however, no such rebuke has occurred. To the contrary, the GOP is now the MAGA party and has stepped into line with Trump’s cruelty. The immigration sweeps have begun, there’s talk of imposing conditions on federal aid to fire-ravaged California, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has been eliminated, and cabinet nominees with sordid histories are being approved.
Be it Budde or Buddha, those who resist the instruments of oppressive power understand the high price humanity pays for cruel regimes. Cruelty is terrified of compassion and reacts to it by doubling down on the weakest among us. Always couched in the cold logic of stopping crime or improving economics, cruelty cows victims and bystanders alike.
During Germany’s Nazi past, the instruments of cruelty included the then nascent field of computing. IBM’s German division provided Hitler’s government with punch-card technology to efficiently track and tabulate information about population and ethnicity, thereby facilitating Germany’s genocidal racial and social policies. That the current billionaires of digital computing and Artificial Intelligence sat front and center during the inauguration ceremony was chilling.
That nature appears cruel does not mean that cruelty need dictate the workings of human society. Nature never intends to be cruel. That humankind so intends is arguably our biggest problem, and more cruelty is not a solution. The only solution, as Bishop Budde explained, is more mercy and compassion.
Be First to Comment