Peace – without justice in letting go of backlog?

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. It is sweet and fitting to expect that against all faded hopes, justice may still be done

- By Wijith DeChickera

ALMOST every day I make a mental note of some smidgen of armchair wisdom that promises peace if only one would let go, let it go or let it be.

It may come from some platform on social media, where the world and its brother obtains their outlook on life. Or emanate from the warm, woozy worldview of some philosophically oriented friend. The imperative is often couched in semi-religious jargon: 'non-attachment', 'compassionate distancing' or "let go and let God!"

It is a consummation devoutly to be wished. As costly shrinks psychiatrist or psychologist alike and priestly types of the confessional persuasion know, there is great relief in divesting oneself of anger, guilt, shame and more of the same.

And despite those who demand their due pound of flesh, the peace that passes all understanding descends in bodily form only once absolution has been granted, forgiveness offered and forgetfulness entered into as a state of willing suspension of belief or action.

There has been, for long however, a Musca domestica in the ointment of local politics. And it is that pesky gadfly which buzzes about town hall, marketplace and the corridors of power begging, pleading, agitating for and demanding that justice be done. (What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels, and who pays the piper to play or not to play?) No state, regime or government can stay those heard melodies that are sweet and fitting, much less the unheard and far more bitter laments of those denied it.

Therefore, it would be a pity and also a grievous offence against the natural order of all things good and just if the sense of expedience and the impediments it admits (in the shape and form of the law's delays and derailed probes) were to rule the priorities of the government of the day.