“Power is of two kinds,

One is obtained by

The fear of punishment and

The other by acts of love.”

M.K. Gandhi CWMG, Vol. XXV, p. 563

The power of fear of punishment was what the President of the United States talked about tonight when he said the threat of military force by the USA against Syria was why Syria was willing to talk about destroying its chemical weapons.

History and my personal experience tell me the power obtained by the fear of punishment only works temporally and has no lasting value. The fear of punishment is what drives our fight against crime and fills our jails and prisons. The police chief talks about more police and more arrest and the crime and homicides rises.

Former Governor Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin was known for getting tough on crime by building many more prisons. The more prisons he built the more prisoners there were in Wisconsin. Near the end of his term of Governor in the 90’s he asked a special commission to study why there was more and more prisons and prisoners in Wisconsin. The commission reported Prisoners and Prisons “are bound to grow as long as the root cause of crime—poverty, lack of education and lack of family support—go unaddressed.” Now years later the USA has the highest prison population per capita in the world and the 2010 U.S. Census shows Wisconsin having “the highest black male incarceration rate in the nation. In Milwaukee County over half of African American men in their 30s have served time in state prison.” Across the street from one of our prayer vigils today for a homicide victim there was a group of young African American males gathered on a porch. One or two came across the street to join us in the Prayer Vigil. Most likely some did not have jobs, lacked education, or lived in poverty. When will ever learn?

The power that comes from acts of love was expressed at the prayer vigil. A young woman from a nearby Lutheran Church spoke at the vigil. She prayed for an awareness of much God loves each of us and expressed how deep she felt the love of God for all of us. Like most of us at the prayer vigil this girl did not know the man who had died. Her presence and prayer were an act of love. To all of us present, including the mother of the man killed, her words were healing. Her act of love, being present and praying, did more than any fear of punishment to stop crime in the neighborhood.

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