The recent killing of the United Healthcare CEO in New York City – shot in the back by a man lying in wait – should rattle us. That sort of thing is not what we should expect on the streets of cities in civil society. But what has been especially troubling is the response from so many in the United States who rationalize it, or worse, celebrate it, as some sort of commutative justice. Some long-time and dear friends of mine are now on the list of those who express sentiments like “he had it coming”. That leaves me to ponder, what if everyone got what they had coming?
I have heard pundits saying that this CEO was not only responsible for denying coverage for health care procedures, but that he “murdered” or was responsible for the murder of millions of people by denying those claims. That is a harsh judgement. I do not know this man, but I do know enough about the health care industry in the United States to report that his role as CEO of that company could never come close to murder. You shall not kill, as the 5th commandment, is very clear. More cleanly, you shall not murder.
As a more precise definition, murder is the unlawful and direct killing of an innocent human being. While he led an organization that was focused on paying for healthcare, and as such was very probably responsible for establishing policies that would have led to delays or denials of coverages for certain procedures, that some people with those plans may have died is not murder. Death is coming for all of us at some point, and no system of healthcare – no matter how well it pays for or covers procedures – will undo our eventual and guaranteed demise.
What is murder is what appears to have been done to him. His assassin seems to have had a well-laid plan to surprise this man intentionally and shoot him down in the street. He appears to have been personally targeted, his schedule and plans tracked, and from all the media reports I have seen the assassin wrote it all out in a manifesto. Since his arrest he comes across as seeming as if he is utterly justified in his own mind in what he did. And again, what is awful to see, is that he is joined by many in this notion that the CEO got what he had coming.
So, to my earlier pondering, what if everyone got what they had coming? Justice, as one of the four cardinal virtues, ought to preserve us from harm. Cultivated properly, it should lead us to give others what they are due, and not expect more or less than that for ourselves. For now, I will concede the speculation that this assassin had a procedure that left him in pain, and maybe it was not well paid for. Is it the same as being shot to death? No, being shot to death is not the same, and it is not justice. It is vengeance, and in this case seems to be murder.
How does charity fit here? I say that charity ought to be that virtue which informs justice, and that moves us to justice. Charity, caritas, is true love, willing the good of the other. What seems to be lacking in many societies today is such real love, and therefore real charity. Charity does not mean government enforced socialism, it means freely gifting from one’s own bounty that which will serve another. We should strive to establish systems which will allow for the maximal leverage of charity in serving our fellow man.
Finally, mercy. God help me if I got what I had coming to me. And we each need to say that, because every human person has sinned and done things to injure other people and to harm their relationship with God and their neighbors. I am ever thankful and grateful for the sacrifice that Jesus made for me, and for the knowledge that by participating in His redemptive and restorative grace, I am able to look forward to an eternity with Him. It is that connection to divine mercy, through divine grace, that we need to cultivate in our own hearts, homes, churches, and towns.
We now face the fruits of years of jealousy, selfishness, pride, reparations and revenge being taught in the public sphere. The only real counter to it is Jesus’ mercy and grace. May we all gain access to it, and let it spill out to everyone we meet.