More Thoughts on Justice

Yesterday, I talked about how our view of justice in a particular situation can change as we learn more details about the situation.  A man who simply steals food from a grocery store is wrong.  But when he has hungry, disabled children at home and has recently lost his job, compassion begins to seep in and take what was black and white, and suddenly introduce shades of gray.  On the other hand, if it's some man who does it just to prove that he can, it suddenly seems as though he needs to be taught a lesson, and maybe even receive a more strict judgment against him.

On top of that, we all have different ideas about what we think is 'just'.  If I were to be pulled over for going 68 in a 65 MPH speed zone, I might not think that was very just.  However, if you are a strict interpreter of the law, then the ticket is just.  But if you are someone who thinks that speed limits are in place merely for safety reasons, fudging a few MPH may not seem like all that big of a deal.

This shows us the problem of trying to deal with justice from a merely human perspective.  If we all have different senses of what is actually just, and if our thoughts change as we learn more about the situation, how can we ever truly say that justice has been realized?  What is just in one person's eyes may not be so in another's.  I have seen this as I follow the legal issues of the NFL and its dispute with its players.  One judge sees harm to players, while the appeals judge sees the harm to the owners, and each side tries to get a favorable judge to oversee the case.  This shows that, from a human perspective, justice truly is variable and in the eyes of the beholder.

Does this mean we give up on justice?  No.  While we may disagree on levels of what is just or not, overall, most humans seem to have an understanding that certain things are right and wrong.  It's not perfect, but most will see murder as wrong, or stealing as wrong.  While we may seek out reasons to defend certain situations as an exception, overall, God seems to have created us with a sense of justice within us.  Tomorrow, we'll look a little bit more at this inherent sense of justice.