Then, back home again, between taking another sleeping pill or doing something else, she opted for the second scenario, since she remembered she could now go back to looking for that misplaced bill of exchange. From what little she understood, that piece of paper represented money. Two days before she had exhaustively searched for it all over the house, even in the kitchen, but in vain. Now it occurred to her: and why not under the bed? Maybe. So she kneeled on the ground. But she quickly got tired from putting all her weight on her knees and leaned on her two hands as well
Then she realized she was on all fours.
She stayed that way awhile, perhaps meditative, perhaps not. Who knows, maybe Senhora Xavier was tired of being a human. She was being a bitch on all fours. Without the slightest nobility. Having shed her last bit of haughtiness. On all fours, a little thoughtful perhaps. But all there was under the bed was dust.
Clarice Lispector, “In Search of a Dignity” (”A procura de uma dignidade”)
As for myself, I am a Christian trying to follow the one who said: “Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy.” The heroic courage of murder victims’ families against execution inspires me. And deep down, I know that one of the core truths at the heart of my faith is the belief that death has lost its sting. That’s a line penned by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians (I Corinthians 15:55). Paul himself was a former religious extremist, a cold-blooded killer who had such a radical conversion that he changed his name from Saul to Paul and went on to write half the New Testament. So I know that murderers can be transformed. But I admit — I find it hard to find mercy in my heart for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. I guess that is why it is called “faith”. God is daring us to believe in the miracle of grace. God is calling us to believe that every person is made in the divine image – even Timothy McVeigh and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.