Now That's Justice, Mercy and Grace

http://www.thisistrue.com/

One of my favorite email newsletters to receive is from Randy Cassingham. This is True is a weekly e-mail newsletter which reports on bizarre-but-true news items from legitimate news outlets from around the world. Each story ends with a comment -- a tagline which is humorous, ironic or opinionated (or with luck, some combination of the three).

Every week Randy tickles my funny bone and challenges my brain with his tagline quips. This past week was no different. This is from The Premium Edition of This is True #865: 9 January. I think it is a perfect example of Justice, Mercy and Grace.

PUSHOVER: A 63-year-old man from Manila, Philippines, was in line to buy a lottery ticket when a woman cut in front of him. He did the gentlemanly thing, stepping back and allowing her in. The ticket she bought -- that would have been his -- wasn't a winner. The ticket he ended up buying, however, was: 741 million pesos (US$17 million). "When he won, he kept thinking: how sad for that woman," said Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office chair Margie Juico, "She could have won the big prize if she had just been patient." (MS/AFP) ...Chivalry not only isn't dead, it sometimes pays quite well.

Now you might be wondering why I said this is a perfect example of Justice, Mercy and Grace. Well, the Mercy is shown by the 63-year-old man who did the gentlemanly thing of stepping back so the pushy woman could cut in front of him. He could have protested and made a scene. But his heart was such that he didn't and was actaully saddened by the fact that she could have had all that money if she hadn't been so pushy.

The Justice, of course, was the fact that she didn't win. And the Grace, well of course it was the $17 million dollars he won simply because he was polite. While I don't want to laugh in sardonic glee because she DIDN'T win, I do want to shout for joy that the nice guy was rewarded. It might not have been Divine Grace but it was a form of Grace none-the-less. And that kind of thing always makes my day.