Mercy

To be merciful, one requires strength. Being harmless out of inability is weakness and not from a place of mercy. What does that mean? Is mercy the refraining of harm? Does that mean pacifism is the ultimate form of mercy? What about if your loved ones are under attack? Is letting harm bestow upon them without fighting mercy?

Radical pacifism implies acceptance of harm and violence as long as it is not from one self. If you are not fighting for your values and loved ones, you are allowing other forms of violence and harm to happen but it is okay because the pacifist is not the one initiating the violence... what does it mean to love if one is not willing to protect and fight for love?

If mercy is not simply abstaining from harm, then is mercy violent? Not at all, mercy is a form of love, a love for all creation and their creator. A form of altruism. To be merciful we need to we need to priority others over our desires, desires of greed, desires of sloth, desires of pride, or desires of revenge. Mercy includes fighting for protection but does not include raising one finger beyond necessary. Mercy is having a sword above your enemy and having the restraint to hold back your desire for revenge.

Mercy is not contradictory to justice. Implementing mercy is not a passive act. We do not call trees merciful for standing still. Mercy, peace, and kindness, are often associated with passiveness. To be kind is to avoid conflict and to be peaceful is to hold back. Being actionable is often associated with being aggressive and violent. However, if kindness is only shown from a place of fear of social judgment then it is not genuine kindness that comes from a place of love and care of the other. To genuinely care sometimes means having a hard conversation and upsetting the person for their own good. Peace that comes from backing down is potentially submitting to an oppresser that would not achieve real peace; a stable status quo is not equivalent to peaceful existence for all.

Mercy is an active act. To actively care and to actively help. To see someone in need and help them. To see a thirsty dog or a dying plant and giving them water. To see a fellow brother or sister committing injustice and help the oppressed but also help the oppressor to overcome their wrongdoings. Mercy is when our desire to correct the wrong does not come from hate and anger, mercy is when we want to correct the wrong for the sake of the All-Merciful.