What if we still had cities of refuge? In a way, we do. I was thinking about modern-day consulates and immigration centers. Some places deemed as safe havens for refugees are much nicer than others, but they do exist. Two years ago, my husband and I took a motorbike trip to Northern Thailand via the Thai-Myanmar border. We drove past a whole city, complete with guards and gates and fences, filled with Burmese refugees and displaced citizens. Other communities like this exist throughout the world, but many of us will never see them or go inside them. My daughter does some work with the refugees at the holding center in Bangkok. Sad stuff. I’m guilty of seeing a small glimpse of it and doing nothing. God did his best to lay out rules on how to care for refugees and the wrongly accused, but unfortunately, verse 11 shows us how us dumb humans can mess up a good thing. Today, we also see how a few bad apples can mess up what could be a life-giving safe-haven for others. Also sad stuff. We can see how justice, which is the focus of this chapter, isn’t always black and white.
Writing prompt: justice
Justice can get muddy. Some of my favorite courses in college covered media law, ethics and a million and one case studies. Oh, the debates we would have! I loved those classes so much I considered getting a law degree. But I decided I don’t really want to be a lawyer … I just like to study law. I can do that for free with good ol’ Google and open records. Have you ever had to be a “judge”? Write about an experience of having to judge and rule on justice.
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