Crime is Pride

Think: all men make mistakes

But a good man yeilds when he

Knows his course is wrong,

And repairs the evil: The only

Crime is pride.



The Greek playwright of Sophocles wrote these immortal words within Antigone. Before I get into whether or not this statement has actual validity or not, let's analyze this quote. I think we can all agree that men make mistakes. The quote notes that even though this is true, it only matters what is done to make up for those mistakes. The only crime is having too much pride to admit that what you've done is wrong.

 

Now, as for the validity of this statement, I believe that it carries some weight to it, but isn't entirely correct. Sophocles seems to impress upon his readers that no matter what has been done it can be fixed by what the perpetrator does to correct it. In this regards, I don't agree with what he says in this quote. Regardless of what is done to correct a wrongdoing, there are still repercussions to one's actions. For instance, take a common thief stealing a simple lighter. If they get caught, they will face the authority of the law. If they are successful, however, there have been cases where they return to the clerk and admit their crime. While their actions redeem them of their action of stealing, they still must deal with the possible punishment that the clerk chooses to bestow upon the perpetrator.

However, while the above may be true, I think the statement made by Sophocles also has a sort of validity to it in one aspect. While people should still face the consequences of their actions, there is a sense of salvation in attempting to correct any harm done to anyone or anything. To revisit the anecdote of the clerk and the thief, he showed honesty and courage by telling the clerk that he took and admitted it was wrong to do so. By doing this, he still has to face the person he stole from and, by apologizing, may have lessened his punishment by doing so, demonstrating that there is some redemption depending on how one handles the situation.

My dad always told me that it's not what you do to mess up, it's what you do to fix it. And being a man is having the courage to deal with the consequences of your actions. I'd like to offer this as a counter-quote to dear Mister Sophocles, for there is little that can be fully redeemed by undoing what has already been done.