A Word About Mercy

I have discovered that mercy is for the wrong-doer. Or at least, the offender, for there is not always wrong where we are offended.

Of course this is what mercy is for. But it is a revelation to me.

Is it so noble of us to show mercy to the kind, the unwavering, the gentle? Where is the glory in this?

To extend it to our offender. Ah, that is something.

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath.
It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'T is mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself

Shakespeare