Justice for All
If there is but one governing concept that we, the people, can decide for ourselves without relying on the courts, or churches, schools, charities, CEOs, politicians, teachers, or bartenders, it is this: Justice. This concept transcends all the nooks and crannies of law, of history, of philosophy; or science, astrology, or witchcraft. It is based on the here and now, not on an afterlife; therefore it is not a part of religion. It is independent of personal wealth, or individual talents, or various world views; while it encourages diversity and individual pursuits in all those areas. It is both intellectual and practical at the same time. It can be comprehended with relative ease by young and old alike, by rich and by poor; the healthy of mind and body; and by many of those whose lives are restricted. It favors none while encompassing all.
What is it? Justice is a state of being. It subsumes freedom, equality, happiness, and life itself—how we go about our affairs as freely and as unfettered as we can while giving all others as much room for them to do the same. Moreover, when we build upon those four fundamental qualities, and link them, we have our best notion of what the just society embodies, and what it can or should look like. Such a structure can help us to circumscribe our government’s form and limitations; it outlines how we can allocate our natural resources based on what we need to achieve, not on anyone’s personal view of what ought to be. We can also visualize what we need to do to attain it, and how to modify conditions to expedite its establishment, and how to make it flourish. It makes no room for tyranny, slavery, exploitation, wars, special privileges, or deniers of facts and established norms. It relies on free thinking, serious inquires into the unknown, on research and innovation, and on personal growth. It needs an educated, healthy population of determined skeptics, who are open to their experiences, yet who are grounded in fundamental notions of right and wrong; who are tolerant of individual differences and driven to achieve common goals.
It is no stretch of logic or vision to say that justice is an elusive concept that does not exist anywhere as well as it can or should exist. And that is because freedom is neither universal nor is it pursued with equal vigor in all places. The same can be said for equality of persons from different races or ethnicities; and for the pursuit of happiness; or the guarantee that any of us will survive today or prevail tomorrow. But until we can agree on a better definition, those cornerstones of what constitutes the just society will have to do. (Read other definitions at the end of this essay).
Can we find good examples of justice and its components outside of our immediate society? The answer is definitely “yes.” We all inhabit the same planet with similar problems, challenges, and opportunities. Countries such as Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Japan, and New Zealand have much to teach the rest of the world about equality, liberty, happiness, and how to get along with others. To ignore the progress of others is to glorify the weaknesses of failure.
The concept of justice is not at all limited to the legal system, nor to adherence to a specific set of laws. Laws are too often made by political ideologues under the direction of tyrannical plutocrats, or monarchs, for the privileged few seeking to gain or to maintain power, control, or economic advantages. Under those conditions “we are a country of laws” is an insulting slogan to both individuals and to justice. You and I need to be ever vigilant of this connection and ever prepared to bring it to an end.
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Endnotes:
“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men.” -- Ella Wheeler Wilcox
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“To be wealthy and honored in an unjust society is a disgrace.” --- Confucius
“But men often mistake killing and revenge for justice. They seldom have the stomach for justice.” ― Robert Jordan
“Dislike in yourself what you dislike in others.”
― Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S
“Errors do not cease to be errors simply because they’re ratified into law.” ― E.A. Bucchianeri,
“I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice.”
― Albert Camus
“Stand up for what is right even if you stand alone.”
― Suzy Kassem
“There is no reason to think a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens cannot change the world; indeed, that's the only thing that ever has.” ― Margaret Mead
“If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them.”
― Paul Wellstone
“The rewards go to those who invent ingenious justifications for inequality, the punishments to those who try to remedy it.”
― Bertrand Russell,
Love ya!
Jane
Ron