Punishing the Good

If you let people get away with doing things wrong, then you are punishing the people who are doing things right. If takes effort and sometimes sacrifice to do things right. It you let wrong doers escape punishment, then you are rewarding them for failure, which is an indirect punishment of those who do right. I'm not talking about crimes here, just the small everyday injustices that occur. For example, its raining at the shopping center. Most people do what is right and park in the parking lot and walk in the rain to the stores. However, some park in the loading zones in front of stores so they will not have to walk in the rain, which causes people who are doing things right have to walk around them. If store owners permit this, they are condoning the practice, which encourages the violators to do it again, and they are punishing the people who are doing what is right. When people are afraid to correct others for fear of confrontation, they are condoning improper behavior and punishing good behavior.