Desperate times call for desperate measures.
In the 1991 movie Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, there’s a scene that fully encompasses the saying, “Necessity knows no law.” Robin has just gotten back from fighting in the Crusades and sees several soldiers and their dogs chasing a small boy who hides up in a tree. When the men start to cut it down, Robin intervenes and asks why six men and their dogs are chasing this small boy? Guy of Gisborne (the leader of the soldiers) tells Robin that “this boy killed one of the Sherriff of Nottingham’s deer.” The boy then interjects and says, “You starve us. We needed the meat.” A fight ensues, and when Robin has Guy pinned down, Guy tells him, “That little bastard was poaching deer.” Robin, clearly livid, says, “Poach? Is it not a greater crime to starve a family?”
The truth is, a person who is in great need of something will find a way to get it, and break the law if needed. We hear stories of people who die unnecessarily because their basic survival needs aren’t met, and we listen to stories about people who are in jail because they have stolen things to pay their rent, so their kids have a place to sleep at night. Is it fair that these people are locked up? They broke the law. But they aren’t criminals, are they? They are just fighting to survive.
We used to have cleaners come to our house and clean it every week. I started to notice small items of food missing from our pantry after each cleaning. At first, I assumed someone else in the house ate it and I just hadn’t noticed. One night after mentioning it, I came to the uncomfortable conclusion that it is possible that one of the cleaners was stealing from the pantry. So, I set a trap. (Admiral Ackbar warned y’all.)
And sure enough, I discovered that one of them was stealing. It was heartbreaking. I couldn’t be mad at them for taking food. They were taking these packs of Justin’s Peanut Butter Cups out of the pantry. And in my head, I tried to rationalize it as not a big deal, it’s just these candies, it’s probably for their kid, etc. But the trust was broken, and I had to fire them.
Another place where necessity knows no law is when it comes to justice. In various jobs that I have had, I’ve seen a lot of crazy things happen in our judicial system. I’ve seen people get away with murder (literally) and people who have been later proven innocent convicted of murder. What do you do when you feel like the system failed you?
In the movie Sleepers, Fat Mancho says, “If you got cash you can buy court justice. But on the street, justice has no price. She’s blind where the judge sits but she’s not blind out here. Out here the bitch got eyes.” If a great injustice has been done to you or someone you love, it can be tempting to enact street justice. Obviously, one shouldn’t take that path and I’m not advocating it…but I can see how someone would have those thoughts and want to go full blown Frank Castle aka Punisher. We cheer for the vigilante because we want justice to prevail.
