In the
Catholic Peace Weekly, an article starts with a four-letter phrase in
the writings of Lao-tzu, Tao Te Ching: 上善若水 (highest good like water). Water never brings attention to itself and always seeks the
lowest places and nourishes everything on the way. To live in this way
is to be close to saintliness. Its opposite is to live contrary to right
reason and rashly.
The writer lists two recent cases that make him appreciate the wisdom of the
four words that begins his article. One case a person in a
government post was arrested but shortly after with a change of judges
the person arrested was released because there wasn't sufficient reason
for the arrest. Many citizens questioned the difference in the way the
law was read. Many in the legislature censured the judge.
The
second case mentioned is the signatures of 200,000 citizens on the Blue
House bulletin board, asking for the abrogation of the law against
abortion. You have a highly contested issue: those who strongly feel
you are killing a fetus and you have the others saying it's against
the right a woman has over her body. A new aspect entered the picture
when the Blue House representative of the people mentioned the problems
with the issue.
All
these events occurred naturally but it is not right for the
legislative branch of government to censure the judicial or
the executive to control the direction of legislation. Law, the compulsory
code of the state is not different from the law of water. Western
natural law thinking and ordinary law both seek the source of law in our
natural life and in Asia the very word law is an icon of
water seeking harmony.
Our
understanding of the law is that when we have a wrong law we follow
procedures to revise or abolish the law. All the citizens have the right
to express their opinion. However, on the principle of the separation
of powers, the legislative, executive and judicial should not exceed the
conduct that is given to them in their office. The democratic system
collapses if the legislature disputes the interpretation of the law by
the judiciary of if the executive forces their view on the legislature.
Man
is an imperfect being and even if I am convinced I am right I may be
wrong. The natural flow of water we should imitate, my
self-righteousness does not produce good results. When we seek to
achieve justice by force the results often destroy our common sense.
In
1919 lawmakers in the United States Congress passed a constitutional
amendment that prohibited the production of alcoholic beverages in the
United States. This made thousands of Americans outlaws until abolished
in 1933. As a result the ban has remained synonymous with excessive
reforms that have caused public dissatisfaction and social disruption: the result of abandoning the wisdom learned from water.
The writer finishes the article by saying that fortunately, our
Christians do not fall into this foolishness because they pray that "the
will of the Father, not my will be done" (Luke 22:42).