We all fall short

"Men can act brutally under certain circumstances, but their conscience pursues them.Certainly there are men to whom love, sympathy and conscience are alien, but they are mentally ill." (The Biology of Peace and War)

Mental ill or evil? I believe that given the right set of circumstances, anyone of us is capable of behaving in a way which we would not have thought possible. We can't say for sure how we would act if such and such an event happened, or if we were caught in a particular situation. We can suppose and hope for action commensurate with our character, but who knows? People both overestimate and underestimate themselves frequently.

Some people who do bad things are clearly mentally unwell, while others are evidently bad people. We all have the potential for good and evil. How many evil deeds are required for a person to be deemed evil? Do acts of charity and selflessness wipe out the stain of what Christians call 'sin'? Who decides who is a good person and who is a bad person? Who has enough knowledge to make such a judgement?

We have all fallen short of the Glory of God.

A Murder of Crows

After many successful years as a criminal defense attorney, Lawrence Russell finally succumbs to his conscience and verbally attacks his own client in court. As a result, the defendant is found guilty, and Lawrence is disbarred.

Happy to be free of the burden of defending people whom he knows are guilty and unrepentant, Lawrence sets about making a new life for himself. He decides to write a book but can't get started so he spends his days drinking and dreaming instead. One day he meets a man who gives him a manuscript about a man who murders five defense lawyers, and the man asks him to read it over and offer his opinion. When the man dies, Lawrence decides to put his own name to the novel and submit it for publication. Although A Murder of Crows is a huge success, it also turns out to be a true story. As the "author", Lawrence becomes the prime suspect in the subsequent criminal investigation.

Lawrence Russell did the right thing in obeying his conscience to quit as a defense attorney but when the rewards he hoped for, like success as a writer, did not materialize, he disobeyed his conscience by putting his name to a manuscript which he did not write. The consequences of this latter decision were life threatening.

The film, A Murder of Crows, demonstrates two things. Firstly, the rewards for doing right are not always immediate or obvious. And secondly making a decision to do good, or to do the right thing at one time in your life does not make it any less likely that you won't make a wrong decision, or a decision to do something bad, at another time.