I Know What You Did

Committing an unjust act doesn't always mean the person is unjust. There are those who do things selfishly and out of malice. But sometimes we do things either by mistake or our judgment is clouded. Someone might steal out of desperation rather than out of laziness. An act of adultery could occur out of passion of the moment rather than deliberate choice. Those who insulate themselves cannot pass judgment on those who had conditions come together without forethought. We have all seen well respected people fall into spirals of drugs, sex and corruption. Upbringing and personality are helpful factors in character. A self-righteous person is someone who assumes it is his awesome willpower and not his insulated life and lack of passion that keeps him out of trouble. Those who are humble will protect themselves knowing that they are just as vulnerable as the next guy. This person will also give others a break and will not pass judgment. Taking incidental information to form conclusions is a bad habit to get into. It causes us to be disliked and also become vulnerable. That is why it is said that pride goes before destruction.

With a person of good character there are always instances where things are done by mistake. Nobody is perfect. There are various areas this occurs. There are things that are done under compulsion such as a soldier doing his duty. In past history, soldiers held the lives of their families by their willingness to follow orders. Disgrace might mean the death of his love ones so they would do what they shouldn't. The Nuremberg trials were based on this. We do things out of ignorance to varying degrees. Someone who is crass might always tell the truth but isn't discreet about the sensitivities of the listeners. Some things that are done might be perceived as mean when the intention wasn't.

 Even just people can seem good when it really isn't on purpose. Someone who does what is right because of the fear of loss under a contract doesn't have better character over someone who always keeps his word even if there isn't a contract. So there are factors of compulsion that makes some people appear just and others unjust.

Some causes of unintentional hurt are: mistakes, malfunctions or conditions that change the outcome. An unintentional injury can occur in two ways: accidents and mistakes. An accident is when no person is at fault and other things caused it. A mistake is when it was human error. A person who deliberately injures another is vicious and unjust. Sometimes an act occurs out of a passion such as anger. Another person can be purposely causing the rage and would share the blame. It doesn't mean the person who committed the act is bad but was pushed beyond his limits. We all have limits. The justice of the act itself in these cases isn't so much in question as the origin of the passion. What it gets down to is when a person acts from choice there is a need for correction and the person is more likely to still be unjust and continue in his vice. Unintentional violations may need correction but it doesn't mean the person is bad. A just person will learn his lesson from it. Later we will examine how people get to each of these states. 

I hope this isn't too awful dry but there are good points. I like the metaphor that justice is universal like fire. It is always hot everywhere you go. These writings always build into something more but it is like any construction, it can be tedious at times but we learn skills along the way.  

It Wasn't Me!

We see that there is natural justice or common courtesy. This is the ideal and if we were all angels it would work out. Unfortunately there are malicious people in the world and we have to find a way to protect ourselves and others in our communities. That is why it is necessary to have legal justice. It reinforces natural justice. In the same way fire is hot everywhere you go, natural standards of justice are the same everywhere in the world. There are variations in how groups of people form them into written laws and so legal justice varies between communities. Legal justice is intended to reinforce natural law but it is hard to cover every situation and motive through written law and so there can be instances of legal justice violating natural justice.

There are instances where we perceive an injustice wrongly and some violations are unintentional. Mistakes and intentions have to be taken into account to help us avoid running around feeling slighted unnecessarily and also to avoid feeling guilty about things that couldn't be helped. And when it is a legal matter, it is important to penalize the guilty to the fullest extent and to give grace to those who hadn't intended to cause harm. It is important to understand that a person can be the cause of an injustice but not be at fault. We sometimes feel guilty for things that happen because what we did initiated a problem but the reality is that it couldn't be helped. But a malicious person will always claim it wasn't intentional so this causes all kinds of grey areas.

It is true that unjust acts that are done on purpose need to be resolved in some way. If the intent is obvious and someone takes responsibility, a resolution can come much easier and healing begin.  A voluntary injustice, an act of a person’s will, has different causes that we will go into later. There are times when an injustice wasn't an act of the person’s will. We certainly blame a person who is voluntarily unjust and want the situation made right. If a person didn't mean to do it, the act may be unjust but it might not be considered an injustice. We will look into the different situations we get ourselves into without even trying. Maybe it will help those of us who have a high sense of justice not to be so hard on ourselves and give us food for thought toward those we want to judge..

Unconditional

Unconditional relationships would be ideal. Unfortunately, some people have different perceptions on what is due and they take more than they ought. That is why we need rules and as a society we need laws. There are general rules that come natural and are out of consideration. Justice balances out what is taken and what is given so people can be satisfied. Satisfaction in this context means neither party feels violated. Natural justice is the best kind because it doesn't need a third party mediator. “Let’s just keep this between you and me” is how we want our relationships to be. Even in financial transactions, natural justice denotes a kind of friendship between two people. To walk away from a deal with mutual respect is important. We like having the ability to give someone a deal and get a bargain ourselves. But there will be times when one party rips off another and we need laws to limit the damage and rectify the situation.

We say true love is unconditional. And love is forever. It also true that love is the ultimate acceptance of another person with all their flaws but we still make marriage vows to guarantee that kind of love. People change or might try to take advantage of one other. We have laws in our culture that try to keep things even when that occurs.  Whenever a third party is needed to mediate in interactions between any two people, we can assume the free association has been violated by one or the other and it is a sad thing. “Let’s keep this between ourselves”, is the ideal.

It would be nice if we could always be free to use our potential. Unfortunately, it is a human trait to do what is easy. In everything we do there comes a time when it becomes drudgery. We have to use self-discipline to complete the things we start. We strive to have justice within ourselves between our passions and our reason.  As a youth we work hard to get the self-discipline needed and as time goes by we miss the passion. There is a system of justice inside of all of us where passion and reason each have the part in our lives that is due them.  We don’t want a third party to come in and set the limits for us and violate our free will. This can be at our jobs or in our leisure; in relationships with others or in what we do alone. The ideal is that we work it out within ourselves. This isn't always possible and sometimes we do need help and support.  

The point is that as much as we hate it, we need self-discipline and sometimes we need help. The best kinds of rules are those we set ourselves. If we cede anything to a third party, it better have good character and the scope must be limited so it doesn't impede our passions any more than is necessary. This includes rules, laws and people. No one wants to be lorded over. And there are too many that are willing to be this way. Some do it to feel better about themselves at our expense and others do it to acquire gain from our misfortune. It might be a perceived standard of perfection they want to impose. But help should always lead toward independent thought, unleashing our potential and the ability to rule one’s self.    

Trust

We champion voluntary transactions between people as being the foundation of freedom. We interact with people on different levels. Trust is the confidence that another person will treat us justly. There is a level of trust toward others on the road that they will obey traffic laws and pay attention. Negligence angers us because they willingly break that trust. This works on different levels. We make contracts so expectations are spelled out. Verbal agreements are made on different levels. A fun person would be expected to give entertainment and a responsible friend would be expected to keep us out of trouble. The possibilities are unlimited. We trust friends with our secrets that could be embarrassing. A soul mate will be entrusted with far more than an acquaintance. We all want someone we can trust, who will accept us as we are. When an unauthorized person imposes on this we feel violated. Privacy is the ability to share what we want with whom we want. This is another facet of freedom. The greatest possession we have is our soul. That is why gossip and sharing private information is such a violation and we feel an injustice has occurred when it happens. All agreements to share and interact have conditions of trust. We call this natural justice.

When we proceed into justice for a community, the agreements for sharing and transactions become more complex since there are so many degrees and opinions. That is the point where written contracts become necessary. We call these written contracts “law”. The further we get from honest personal interactions, the harder it is to take everyone’s situation into account. That is why we limit the scope of federal laws the most, to state laws, to local but prefer that people work things out among themselves on a personal level. Experience teaches us that leaving the power to maintain order for the masses up to individual discretion will end up in tyranny. The people have to come together and agree on what power will be ceded to whom. We hope that we can trust them with small areas of our freedom to make things run smoother. Traffic needs stop lights to keep everyone moving.  This defines legal justice. 

Tip Well

We looked at three kinds of justice. Distributive is the kind of justice where a group has a claim to something common to all. There are situations between two people that need to be rectified at times. This is where rectification comes in. People make contracts and have laws to make this as clear as possible; black and white. A mediator will correct things if there is an injustice. There is also a form of justice that brings people together. It is the basis for freedom; justice by reciprocation.

There are times when a service is more valuable than a simple one to one transaction can rectify. A doctor will get paid more for his service than a janitor. Everyone should do his job to the best of his ability to have good character. But we all know that the doctor, due to his commitment to our health and well-being, should get paid more. Allowing individuals to make these judgment calls is what defines freedom. If this doctor sees someone who cannot afford his services, he can use discretion and give that person a break. All good people want to have the ability to do this sort of thing and help others out. Freedom is needed to reward those who excel. It motivates them to do better and allows us to appreciate quality. And the contrary, there should be freedom to pay less and help less, those who take advantage of us. 

Rectification is black and white, but is also legalistic. It reminds me of an arranged marriage. There are those who think they know what is best for us and want to rule our lives. But to have real love, one must have the ability to reject or accept another person. This takes more time and has winners and losers, but it is worth it since there is freedom where there is a choice. True justice cannot be confined to laws in the same way that love cannot be confined to a marriage license. Laws are borders: The landscape belongs to choice and a free will.

There is a difference between legalistic justice and grace. With grace we can release a debt or give a lavish reward for a job well done. Reciprocation gives room for these things. Socialism is a form of legalism with the planning done by others like an arranged marriage. Liberty gives people room for free relationships and interactions with all its rewards. This brings closeness within communities and families. Of course friendship and love based agreements can be abused. But allowing freedom in these areas is what life is all about and is the only way we can find self-satisfaction. It doesn't matter if we are talking about a citizen toward his country, an employee in a company or in a marriage: Freedom takes trust and trust is a risk. It doesn't always pan out,  but the only alternative is legalism and robots…..The unjust state for reciprocation is to impair the ability of individuals to use their own will and voluntarily make transactions with others. But 'just' reciprocation is is well worth the risk because opportunities are always there when freedom exists.