Originally Posted: January 6th, 2016
Ever since I was a kid I’ve watched a lot of television. My favorite show growing up was Knight Rider. For you young kids the tag line for the show was:
Knight Rider. A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. Michael Knight, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.
I’ve shared on this blog before that I’ve always been very sensitive to justice and injustice. Knight Rider only served to reinforce that sensitivity. I’ve recently been re-watching the series on Netflix and have been amazed at how well that theme still comes across despite classic 80′s plot devices and cheesy stunt double fist fights.
For me much of the credit can go to Glen A. Larson the shows creator and patriarch. From the books I’ve read and TV specials I’ve seen he made sure that Knight Rider never strayed from the course. No matter what was thrown at Michael Knight and the Foundation For Law and Government (FFLAG) they always held justice up as the center piece of their motivations.
In one particularly moving episode Michael Knight confronts the man who killed Stevie (Michael’s fiancé from his previous identity). It takes every ounce of strength for Michael not to enact justice on the murderer but his partner KITT (the talking wonder-car) reminds him “You’ll never be able to live with yourself.”
There have been many times in my life when injustice has been done to me or to someone I care about. Sometimes it takes every bit of strength to restrain myself from seeking revenge or finding a way to speed up the “what comes around” mantra. Somewhere there is a balance for seeking justice and learning to accept injustice as part of our broken, messy, jacked up world.
Injustice is a product of the fall recorded in Genesis 3 and ever since that dark day in the Garden the only justice that is truly carried out is on God’s terms. Right now justice is partial, hard to come by and often overlooked all together.
It’s sometimes hard to trust that one day all things will be made right.
people love you the most for the things you hate
and hate you for loving the things that you cannot keep straight
people judge you on a curve
and tell you you’re getting what you deserve
this too shall be made rightchildren cannot learn when children cannot eat
stack them like lumber when children cannot sleep
children dream of wishing wells
whose waters quench all the fires of Hell
this too shall be made rightthe earth and the sky and the sea are all holding their breath
wars and abuses have nature groaning with death
we say we’re just trying to stay alive
but it looks so much more like a way to die
this too shall be made rightthere’s a time for peace and there is a time for war
a time to forgive and a time to settle the score
a time for babies to lose their lives
a time for hunger and genocide
this too shall be made rightI don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door
I join the oppressors of those who i choose to ignore
I’m trading comfort for human life
and that’s not just murder it’s suicide
this too shall be made right-This To Shall Be Made Right, Derek Webb
Until then I still believe that one man can make a difference and so when I can, and to the best of my ability, I will always fight injustice done to others and check my own heart for wanting my version of justice instead of God’s.