But you're still hungry.

And God spoke through him, and said, “My children, I am in all your acts of kindness, and when each of you endeavors to help his fellow man, then do you execute my will most purely; and should your fellow man reach out to grant you succor, remember that I am with he, and I am with you, and together you shall be doubly blessed. But he who wields his hand to harm another, nay, he is not with me, though I am with him; he has yielded to the devil, and he does the devil's work. But such a man may choose to walk my path again, and his fellows are my instrument in guiding his return; when they treat him with kindness and compassion, firm and unyielding, never laying hands on him, though he may lay hands on them — then will he understand that the devil has led him astray, onto a lonely and heartless path, while through my works he shall have happiness and companionship and countless blessings.”

And the people rejoiced that God was with them always. But a single man, Tajit, doubted God in his heart, and he disbelieved that a man lost to the devil could be returned without his fellows laying hands on him. And so the devil entered his heart, and made him doubt his people, and one day Tajit, consumed by anger, struck a shopkeeper whom he thought was deceiving him. And though his neighbors were shocked by his violence, swiftly they rushed to offer aid to the shopkeeper, and they did not lay hands on Tajit, and instead they helped him, and thought about how he might make amends with the shopkeeper, and sent him home, and told his husband to look after him. But when his husband tried to look after him, Tajit turned away, for he realized that his people were weak, and God's teachings were weak, if they repaid his violence with aid and words.

And the next day, Tajit rose early, and took a position in the square, and announced to all who passed by that the words of God were false. And when they did not listen to him, he grew angry again, and he began to strike out at them; and when the people saw this, they remembered God's teachings, and they did not lay hands on him, but they joined hands and surrounded Tajit in a circle, and when he moved to strike them, they laughed and moved with him, as if he were a small sun surrounded by a circle of planets. And as time wore on, Tajit's strength flagged, but those who surrounded him were as tireless as ever, and Tajit saw that periodically fresh men came to replace those who grew tired, while he had only himself, and was alone. And Tajit saw that this whole time, one man had never left the circle, and it was his husband, who was also growing tired, but those next to him supported him, and held him up, and he remained, always looking at Tajit. And Tajit saw that he had yielded to the devil, and had become alone and heartless, while his fellow men were given strength through God, and he no longer desired to lay hands on anyone. And when he said as much, God smiled on him, and his people opened a space in the circle for him, next to his husband, and they held him up and all danced.

This is from summer 2022. I have no idea why, but I suddenly felt like I needed to write this despite having basically never written fiction before. Then I showed it to my girlfriend and she was like “why did you randomly decide to write a parable about restorative justice” and I was like “i have no idea it just was in my brain.” After that day I never thought about it again. Resurrecting this just to put it here.