Yesterday I saw a Danish explorer, Troels Kløvedal, visiting a far off exotic place. In the course of the conversation with the other Danish person, who lived and worked there, a story was told about a man, who plotted a murder against a rival of his. This man and his conspirators were eventually convicted and received punishment. In conclusion, the two Danes stated that they had been dealt fairly with, “the way we understand it”.
Such an attitude cannot but be seen as yet another example of arrogant blindfolded western cultural imperialism. As if “the way we understand it” can in any way be taken as normative for cultures that we precisely do not understand in the outset.
Westerners are not satisfied until they understand! They cannot accept things in their thusness. They must be put through the grinder of western sophistic intellectualism until they fit into the narrow minded comfort of western logic.
I am not saying that I agree with letting a murderer walk. Taking somebody’s life is a crime, in my opinion. Life is sacred and should be preserved. However, so is the life of a culture. Thus, it is not up to any random passerby Dane to pass judgement on the culture, where he is a guest – no matter what is in question.
Now, in this case, the perpetrators were all convicted according to some logic that resembles western law. So be it! Had it been different, very well! Who am I, or who are they to have an opinion about it?
In the end we will all be judged by a law that is larger than any system of logic or law of nature that we can come up with here in the dusty reality of this universe. There, the question will be, hast thou loved thy neighbor, whether that be the person next to you, or the culture next to you?
May the Lord have mercy on those of us, who haven’t fulfilled that!
On the day of the beheading of St. John the Baptist