But really? "Liberty and justice for all?" I say that pledge, every school day, with my students...
And every time, I can hear my mind adding the personal prayer -- "soon, please!" There is very little liberty these days, and precious little justice -- and none of it is for us "all." If you, like me, are living somewhere in the middle class, or even worse, over the line into poverty, then there is little, if any, justice for you. Liberty and justice comes with wealth and power ... and always has done. For the rest of us, probably Orson Welles said it best:
Nobody gets justice. People only get good luck or bad luck.
Still, of course, the injustices that are close to home are the ones that sting the heart most deeply. I can look at the things in my world that aren't to my liking, and declare to anyone who will listen, that it is NOT FAIR! The problem, mostly, is that hardly anyone is listening. And among those who do hear me? Many of them, I imagine, would declare, as my mother used to do that I'd, "made my bed and so must lie in it." I hated hearing that from her as a kid, and I hate the fact that I can still hear those words in my head and my heart. I don't care what Mother always said. It is NOT FAIR!
swan
I was thinking of this in conjunction with bullying. October is Anti Bullying month - maybe that's just in Canada. I don't know. And I have a post on bullying percolating.
ReplyDeleteAnyway... bullying isn't fair, isn't justice.
-sin
Injustice bothers me too. If we are made kings of the world, we can do something about them. If not, let's just recommit to doing something about the ones we can.
ReplyDeleteHang in there, Sue.