A Pound of Flesh

"The pound of flesh which I demand of him Is deerely bought, 'tis mine, and I will haue it."  This phrase from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, 1596, has been on my mind lately.  The figurative use of this phrase refers to any "lawful" but "unreasonable" restitution for a wrong, real or perceived.  In the play, Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, lends money to Antonio, his Christian rival and sets the security for the loan at a pound of Antonio's flesh.  When Antonio defaults on the loan, Shylock demands an actual pound of flesh as retribution and revenge for Antonio having previously insulting and spitting on him.

That was the 16th century, but today in the 21st century the sentiment remains.  Gangs, no longer fist fight, with the occassional knife thrown in,  they exact a pound of flesh.  They shoot, kill and seriously injure others over senseless, exaggerated, and perceived wrongs done to us by others whom we may or may not even know.  The pound of flesh is then taken, taken from families, friends, children, parents and innocent bystanders, none of whom had any part in the wrong done.  "I am injured, so I will not only injure you but I will injure your family, friends and any innocent bystander who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."  The motto is "Somebody's got to Pay".  The lasting effect of that action on ourselves and on others...is neither "lawful" nor "reasonable"!  They are indiscriminate in who surrenders the pound of flesh.

When I was a young man, my four brothers and I often found ourselves engaged in some neighborhood scuffle.  The neighbors across the street, down the street and around the corner, whoever said a cross word or performed some wrong on the "family honor".  Lines would be drawn, words exchanged, and then...the first punch, sucker or otherwise, would be thrown.  We thought it was a fierce battle, a stuggle for neighborhood dominance and the right to say "we kicked your butts".  But these jousts, these excercises of puerile testosterone, weren't over drugs, money or women...as a matter of fact, we usually couldn't remember what they were for so we said "so-and-so" said "such-and-such" about "jiggidy-boo" and that was enough. The next day, we laughed and played together, like nothing happened.  It was done, over with, and everybody moved on.  Not so today!

How much is enough?  How much flesh do you need?  How much respect do you gain and how much do you lose?