The comparison to childhood excuses of "but he hit me first" really nails it. We're so quick to calculate other people's moral debts while giving ourselves daily grace, but when you think about it, maybe that's exactly why the metaphor of justice rolling like water works so well instead of like, say, a carefully measured distribution.
Good symbolism . . . hands in prayer.
The comparison to childhood excuses of "but he hit me first" really nails it. We're so quick to calculate other people's moral debts while giving ourselves daily grace, but when you think about it, maybe that's exactly why the metaphor of justice rolling like water works so well instead of like, say, a carefully measured distribution.