I came across this video of a judge speaking that reminded me of the importance of balancing authority with vulnerability. Until you’ve been in a courtroom as this judge describes, you cannot even begin to understand the pain afflicted by sentencing, both to the person being sentenced and their loved ones. This is why this judge says every year he visited a prison and tried to have the milk of kindness in all he did. It reminds me of Andy Crouch’s book Strong and Weak in which he talks about how important it is to hold both authority and vulnerability to truly promote human flourishing. It’d be easier to remain callous to the effects the sentence you impose has (authority without vulnerability) but to be able to both hold compassion while still imposing a sentence seems to me to be a picture of true human flourishing.