Law! Where is your sting?

The most recent overturning of a ban of federal funds to healthcare entities outside the country which also provide abortion services has evoked such a passionate response from many a section of society. Almost everyone has an opinion and is vociferous either in support or in condemnation. I have my opinions. As strong as they are, I won’t be presumptuous enough to assume that I understand the implications of this executive order in its entirety. Considering the complexity of human existence, none can claim complete comprehension.

Through a crass adaptation of what Samuel Johnson said I desire to put forth my sentiment. "A country is in a bad state, which is governed only by laws; because a thousand things occur for which laws cannot provide…" For my part I know that rules and regulations, laws and legislations by themselves are of little consequence. Neither can they curtail nor do they provide license. They might momentarily stall an act or momentarily provide reprieve to do something that was previously prohibited. I say momentarily for the simple reason that the law is not expansive enough to cover every situation, every time.

Let me illustrate it with an example from my world. I am a teacher and I know that there are some standards that students the world over have to abide by. It is small matter whether they study in India or in America. Students have to do their work diligently and honestly. They should be respectful toward each other. How often do we see students who live by these principles all the time? They do abide by these conventions under the watchful eye of a teacher or a parent, but do away with it when there is no one around. In another instance, my husband and I happened to see an unruly driver flouting every rule in the book and I am most certain he would be immaculate in his adherence, if a law enforcing officer was close at hand. My point is that even at best our effort is but a shoddy and hypocritical attempt at obeying merely the letter of the law.

C.S. Lewis talks of the law of right and wrong, what the old thinkers called the Law of Nature. He says that unlike the law of gravitation or the law of heredity, man can choose either to obey the Law of Nature or disobey it. That is the reason why we see students, drivers and every one of us doing things we know to be wrong. Neither can the law force us to do what is right all the time nor can it make right that which is wrong. The fact of the matter is that it is impossible to fulfill the essence of the “law’s demands”. We repeatedly find ourselves falling short of those standards – both human and divine.

It is indeed a grim reality. For a self-sufficient generation it is a sobering fact – the inadequacy of the law and our utter inability to fulfill even that which it requires. We are in a desperate and dire need for an inward transformation that can be wrought perhaps only by a Power higher than ourselves. It would indeed do us well to realize our insufficiency.