Justice for Madoff?

Most of the time, my blog focuses on my kids and our lives and our families. But, one man has been on my mind a lot lately (normally, I'm a one-man woman but not lately...). His name is Bernie Madoff.

I don't know why I've been thinking of him so much lately. Probably because he's on the news a lot, and if he's not on the news, his victims are. I had never heard of a Ponzi scheme and I had never heard of Bernie Madoff prior to 2008. Apparently, it's a scheme centered around robbing Peter to pay Paul. You use your old investors to pay off your new investors and it goes round and round until it catches up with you and you can no longer pay.

I think we've all known an embezzeler in our lifetime. Whether it's the kid in college who pocketed the gate money at the college football game or the small-town girl caught taking money from the cash drawer at the local retail shop or the farmer who pulls off some co-op scheme with his crops...we all know someone who had greed get the best of them. Of course, Bernie Madoff is over and above- taking millions of dollars from the innocent, turning some of the richest rich into the poorest poors, lying to the thousands, all the while basking in the sun on his yacht. And, we all know how everyone gets caught: they get too greedy. It starts with a dollar, then it turns to 20, then it's downhill from there. It's a dangerous slippery slope that I vow to never be on.

I guess I've been thinking of him because I wonder what that first day of taking someone else's money felt like. Did he sleep peacefully knowing he was lying? Was there guilt the day he bought his Cadillac? Did he want it to catch up with him? Does he feel better knowing his sins have been exposed or is he just sorry he was caught? Does he have grandchildren who looked up to him and wanted to be like him? Has he always been greedy or was there a life-altering moment? I really wish I could score an interview with him. I have so many questions.

Although I smack the blame 100% on Madoff (and his homeys), I still can't help but feel a sliver of compassion for him. There's a big part of me that can't help but feel sorry for him. I know what some of you are thinking- feel sorry for the people he screwed, for his victims, for those who trusted him. And, absolutely I do. But, I feel sorry for Bernie because at some point in his life, he decided to worship wealth above all other things. He decided that materialistic possessions were more important than his own family. He decided vacation homes came before his own faith. He decided that "things" mattered more than values and ideals and morals and ethics. And, he felt he could put a pricetag on his own happiness. Money was never a means to an end for him, money was the end in and of itself. And, I think about how awful that would feel and how shameful it would be to look at yourself in the mirror. I can't imagine.

I don't know what kind of justice is suitable for a person like Madoff. I believe that he and his wife should give up all of their assets and seek restitution by all means available. I think a heartfelt apology is in order- his victims deserve it. And, I think he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. He should be made to feel how his victims feel- hopeless, defeated and penniless.

Make no mistake, I hold him 100% accountable for his actions. But, in the end, he has to make things right with one man- the "Big Guy Upstairs." Only God can choose the appropriate justice for a man like Bernie. Only God will know where his heart is, whether a man can change, whether somewhere deep, deep down, there was ever a man of faith underneath the $3,000 suit and tie. I could never guess where God stands on this, but I have a feeling that Bernie has a lot of explaining to do...

In this economy, times are tough and most people are of the "have nots" than the "haves." It's easy to think about how life would be easier with 5 bathrooms, how a new Tahoe sure would look nice in your driveway, how that $300 purse you saw in the mall last night would be amazing with the $600 coat next to it, and how money would solve all of your headaches. But if the Bible hasn't taught us enough on the subject, I think Bernie has taught us all a valuable lesson: the love of money is a very, very dangerous thing AND it's a very, very tempting world out there. It's best to keep both eyes on the prize: faith, family and love. You'll never lose that way.