Joy and Dance. Life and Death.

This morning, for some reason, I asked myself a question that somehow challenged my understanding. I can’t remember exactly where it came from. Perhaps I was thinking about my beliefs just weeks ago and had a “self check” if I was, or still am, aligned.

Is there any form of justice that truly justifies killing?

Perhaps it was a thought experiment that just decided to be drawn out from my core. It probably was a strong inner conflict that decided it’s time to resurface.

Taking self-defense out of the picture, my immediate thought were criminals: rapists, murderers, drug lords and those we unapologetically label “society’s plague”…

I’ve always been a fan of the former president. For some time I have reaped the benefits of a peaceful Tondo during his time, where I didn’t fear going out late at night to walk my way to 7-Eleven. Order was clearly enforced.

If it wasn’t for the fear he instilled in his War on Drugs, my brothers wouldn’t have feared the repercussions of drug use and I wouldn’t get to see them changed. Although I reaped and appreciated the benefits, it has always been conflicting to me.

I couldn’t find it in myself to fully agree that we should take life to find peace. I just don’t see it sustainable. It contradicts with my ideas that we are all Divine.

My mind drifted back to those dancing inmates in a maximum-security prison from the early 2010s, so I ended up watching a couple of videos about them.

When dance was introduced to them, these people convicted of rape, drugs or murder, became joyful and friendly. They became Divine. You can clearly see that they were God expressed.

Crime rate inside the provincial jail was reduced to zero, as prisoners were busy rehearsing dance moves instead of looking for trouble.

I can’t believe that I have once weighed the idea on getting these people killed or silenced.

I cried. Not of sadness, but of the joy of seeing God firsthand. From unlikely people.