The Myth Called Justice

Today I looked up the word "justice" in a legal dictionary and this is what is said

"A concept defined according to the particular philiosphical school of the inquirer, as evidenced by the Platonci dialogue, Cratylus.  Most definitions can be catergorised into one of two groups: one holding that justice has a transcendental naure and is determined by God; the other maintaining that justice is a matter of convention determined by human judgment."  

 

It then referred me to Aristotle who has, of course, long passed. Now I am not sure about you dear reader, but that definition made little sense to me.  So off I went to a non-legal dictionary which told me:

"1. just behaviour or treatment - the quality of being just" 

Okay what does  "just" mean?  Is there still hope for understanding?  I delved further to find the meaning of "just" and this is what it said:

" morally right and fair - appropriate or deserved - (of an opinion or appraisal) well founded".

So I pondered.  And I pondered some more.  And here's the thing:

Putting all this together and thus accepting that justice is determined by human judgment as to what is morally right and fair, appropriated or deserved, a reasonably heavy penny dropped, many of us ind those we encounter along life's path have this deep and over-bearing belief in justice - that morality and fairness will always win out even if there are speed bumps along the way.  The problem is the speed bumps are most frequently  "human judgment" which is often flawed as to what is morally right and fair - appropriate or deserved - (of an opinion or appraisal) well founded.  

Why is this human judgment flawed?  Because humans are flawed?  That goes without saying, no?  We all make judgments based on our personal belief systems, morals, ethics etc.  

But let's go back to the definition of justice in the ordinary dictionary where a second definition is proferred:
"the administration of the law or authority in maintaining this (quality of being just)"


So how, when, why then does it become acceptable, reasonable or desirable that justice, - the determination of what is morally right and fair, appropriate or deserved - be based on human judgment which at its fundamental base is the determiner's moral standards?  How can that be true justice?  Because isn't it true that the distinction between what is morally right and fair becomes blurred and/or overtaken by the determiner's moralistic standard which is so deeply rooted in their class and/or religious doctrine?

And so why then do we fight so hard for justice for ourselves and others when the process of obtaining it fraught with speed bumps?  Why do  we still believe?  Does there come a time when acceptance of the influence of human flaws determining the quality of being just and hence what is justice becomes so profound that we throw our hands up in the air and say "I give up - I accept justice is a myth and I will now longer seek or demand it." Is non-acceptance foolish and/or burdensome?  Are we wrong to keep fighting?  Are we wrong to offer hope to those who desperately but reasonably need justice?


Has justice been unreasonably and unfairly denied to someone because of a perception of class betrayal?  Has it been denied because the moralistic standards rooted in class and religious doctrine of the determiner have over-ridden what was morally right and fair?  Without doubt.

Tonight as I write this the tears of pain fall down my cheeks because I am scared I have reached the point where, for my own survival, I need to stop holding out hope to those who rightfully deserve justice.

Precious

Have you seen "Precious"?  It is an amazing film.  But don't be lulled into thinking it is a black story or an American story. 

Yesterday I had a conversation with a friend about this film & the fact that it is easy to see it as a black story or an American story or a poor person's story.  It isn't.  It is the story of far too many women & children throughout the world.  

Let me tell you my story.  Many years ago I worked in a women's refuge in South Australia.  I had just completed a social work degree but had been a registered nurse for about 10 years by that time.   I thought I had seen or heard everything.  But I was wrong.  

What I witnessed over the two years I worked in that refuge was the most gut-wrenching episodes of human cruelty & evil I have ever witnessed in my life.  As I told my friend, the first Christmas/New Year period I worked there, 16 children were in resident & of that 16, 11 were victims of sexual assault by a parent or step-parent.  The youngest @ the time was 18 months old & she had been regularly sexually assaulted by her father since she was 3 months old.  Then there was the mother whose 4 daughters were sexually abused regularly by her husband (their step father) - the oldest 16, the youngest 10. Dad was in prison, funnily enough for sex crimes, but mum wrote to him regularly, describing in hideous, explicit detail, the sexual activities she wanted them all to engage in.  Neither family were black, only one on welfare. There were others @ that time & over the two years I saw many more.

A few months after I left the refuge I went to visit a friend.  At the end of the visit my friend told me that day was the first in over 2 years she had seen me smile.  Working @ the refuge had paralysed my face muscles.

So don't be fooled or lulled into a sense that these things only happen in black families, poor families, welfare families: I assure you they happen in every kind of family, including "devoutly" religious families. 

If you haven't seen Precious - go see it.  And in the end remember - it only takes one out-stretched hand to help someone find their spirit & soul.

Broken Promises

Why am I so good at breaking promises or more to the point making promises I know I will struggle to keep.  And the craziest thing is they are always the promises I make to myself:

• I promise I am going to get up early tomorrow & go for a run
• I promise I am going to join the new gym tomorrow
• I promise I am going to sell my stuff on ebay this week
• I promise I will do all my work by close of business 
• I promise I am not going to spend anymore money on clothes for 2 months
• I promise I will do my Italian homework by the end of the day.

But the best one: I promise I am not going to buy the Winter Olympics package from Foxtel.

Of course I kept this one - until the cheaper package was no longer available and then I couldn't help myself.  I caved in.  I thought - "it's a promise, you only make those so they can be broken."

I am now consoling myself for my amazing lack of discipline (if only this was an olympic sport I would win gold without doubt!) by channel surfing 4 channels watching endless ski-ing & jumping.   

I guess I am now unavailable for a social life (and possibly work) for the next 10 days but @ least I can do my Italian homework in front of the tv - if only they didn't do so many slow motion replays.

Why is it so?

It seems to me that there is a depressing new phenomena - abusing fat people.

Have you read the online reactions to stories in the media about obesity and obese people? It shocks me no end that people have no compunction to sit in judgment of people who are complete strangers to them and to and make the most derogatory, offensive and extremely cruel comments about them. I recently became a fan of the FaceBook "Big, Beautiful, Sexy" which is a public page of Casey Donovan - an incredible beautiful and talented young indigenous woman. In one of her entries she spoke about a story written in a tabloid magazine which she had been unhappy about. The abuse she, and other obese/overweight women were subjected to in reply to her post was extraordinary.

I don't understand what this is about. Why are people so cruel to others? Why is there this apparently broad community belief that people are obese by choice? As I told a group of nurses today "don't for a minute think a person wants to be obese. Being cruel and/or mean, treating them with disdain & abuse is soul-destroying. Hold out a hand of care and support not abuse and hatred."