One of the comments on my Keswick post -- about the Korean boy facing expulsion from school because he broke the nose of a racist bully who attacked him physically and verbally -- suggested I was wrong because the Korean boy could have, and should have, walked away.
Certainly that would have been ethically praiseworthy.
In the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says:
You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
—Matthew 5:38-42, NIV
A parallel version is offered in the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke:
But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
—Luke 6:27-31. NIV
My bigger concern about Keswick, and perhaps I phrased it badly, was not so much to praise the Korean boy -- who did behave in a totally understandable way, he was, after all, defending himself -- as to point out the one sided way the school reacted.
A racist bully incident leads to a fight and who gets suspended (and threated with expulsion)?
The victim of the racist attack.
Something problematic here... .
1 comment:
Whooee! Yeah, maybe the offended party should have walk away and turned the other cheek after Pearl Harbor and 9/11. I'd like to see a police officer take the same verbal and physical abuse as was laid on the Korean boy and simply walk away. This is the real world. failure to defend oneself from an attack is simply an invitation to the attacker continue.
I'd like to see what any of those school board members would do if they were attacked verbally and physically in the same manner.
This is racism, pure and simple.
JB
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