Jesus said if your hand offends you, cut it off. Edmund Burke (we think) said you don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

The Columbia County Exchange Club just had both experiences, and got slapped for their trouble.

Charities have benefited greatly over the years from the club’s concerts at the Imperial Theater featuring Ed Turner and Number 9.

This year’s performance brought a new twist, however, and what appears to be an end to the relationship.

Judge Wade Padgett has always made it clear that his Teenage Years 101 program, which deals with the legal troubles of youths, in part is designed to take away ignorance as an excuse for misbehavior.

In other words, if he can spread the message to every teen, when one of them shows up in court the kid can’t claim he didn’t know any better.

Whenever something happens, tragically or comically, we tend to say afterward, “Perhaps we’ll learn a lesson from this.”

No more. We won’t. Society as a whole doesn’t learn lessons. When someone does something and screws up, perhaps that person learns not to repeat that specific action again. But it’s obvious that pretty much no one else inclined to do the same thing is in any way deterred from trying it themselves.

At least that’s the way it appears.

Have we, as a society, completely given up on patience? Are we so intent on instant gratification that we can no longer wait for the slow turns of the wheels of justice? Are we inclined to do away with trials altogether, and replace them with lynchings and witch hunts?

Based on recent events, that certainly seems to be so. Exhibit A is the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida.

Cops and officials typically are slow and deliberative. They have to be: Things they say and do can ruin a criminal case.