DEACON 11: «Justice»

And the question always is, «What is justice?», and it is hard to define. Is justice done if you (in the countries where you are allowed to have personal firearms) shoot someone that has trespassed on your private property? Is justice done if you cheat your way into a perfect position at work, knowing that you really did not deserved it and that you have denied the real candidate the opportunity? Is justice done if you, being the biggest and the most powerful, manipulate and bully the weaker and smaller ones?

Do you know the answer to these questions? I don’t claim to know them but I wish someone did because they are not rhetorical questions. These questions refer to real situations that happen all the time. And I want to know if the subject, or the object, considers that justice was done or if an unjust and undignified act had been committed.

Is justice found in the Justice System of your country? We all find arbitrary decisions there, such as favouritism, nepotism, cronyism, racism, bigotry, prejudice, hatred, fear and God knows what else. These negative ingredients can and do form part in the decision making process of judges, juries, police, and prosecutors. How come the poor, the minorities and the alienated ones (gays, lesbians, transsexuals, migrants, freaks, the homeless), always lose when they have to confront the rich and the powerful in the supposed justice system? Where is the respect that must be paid to every human being?

And if there is no widespread, universal respect, can there be justice? And without justice, can there be peace? Again, these are not rhetorical questions. Disrespect, strife, war, unrest and injustice all happen all the time everywhere. Supposed First World countries think they are above all of that. However, there is much of the Third World lurking within First World countries. We are seeing that right now in a country that has always boasted of being the number one, the trend-setter and the powerhouse of the world.

Is justice done when a man, a child, or an entire family is deemed “illegal” because they have chosen to make their way to a different country than their own? Perhaps they are fleeing war, tyranny, abject poverty. It is not the position of the host country to question, but to open their arms and accept refugees as God commands. It is written in Leviticus 19:33-34: “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

When that country’s political system traces its roots to the theft of land from its natural, original and rightful owners, simply because they had superior power, does that power make their acquisition just? If you do not respect the little ones, are you still conducting yourself within the parameters of justice? How can a human being on this earth be considered an “illegal alien?”, especially by a country who stole the land from its aboriginal inhabitants and later placed them on reservations? Is this justice? Is “sending them back” justice?

Absolutely not! It is an aberration and an abuse of power. Perhaps power that the perpetrators do not legitimately have. And perhaps power, that if they do have, they should not use as it is indecent and immoral. So, is the use of absolute power the best way to procure justice?

I leave it here as there are too many questions to answer and answers are needed, especially by those who study, learn, think and act. Not by those motivated by hatred who do not think, do not study and only employ the power they have gained by accumulating richness. The latter only think of themselves and there is no justice in selfishness and Narcissism.

What has been said by wise men, Saints and Prophets about Justice

St. Thomas Aquinas said that justice was the virtue that consists of a constant and firm will to give God and neighbour what they rightfully deserve.

Jesus said justice was intimately tied to faith and that one should keep asking and seeking it until one receives it. He gave the example of the wicked judge who was being pestered by a widow asking him for justice for her. The judge, who did not care about men, nor feared God finally did justice for her simply to get her off his hair. Persistence pays.

Nietzsche thought that equality was the most important aspect of justice: he says that “Justice is repayment and exchange on the assumption of an approximately equal power position,” and that “revenge originally belongs to the domain of justice”.

The Romans valued justice highly, and thus thought that justice looks for no prize and no price; it is sought for itself, and is at once the cause and the meaning of all the virtues.

And I will close this chat with a quote from the Prophet Isaiah (1:17): “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

BLESSINGS