My thoughts on Justice….

In the past few weeks I keep hearing the term justice. I struggle to get my mind around what I can do to help the injustice. What does justice even mean at the core of it and who are the injustice in todays society - why is there so much injustice today has it always been there and we are just more aware now… along with many more questions….

I can understand why a lot of academic papers are written on justice !! 

I have concluded that maybe its easier to look at justice as not a sentimentality more a movement for change, as I recall reading somewhere. I think this is true, its easy to debate what we can do as a society but actually doing it is a different step! If we stop been spectators and become involved ourselves in the stories of suffering and 'redemption', then we become participants in the broken systems, in bearing the cause and consequences of injustice. This goes hand in hand with our faith, with what the church teaches. Maybe this starts happening when society stops telling feel good stories and tells genuine stories of faithfulness.

I often look at journalists how are they helping - do they highlight justice or just give feel good stories about good samaritan or advertises for businesses with promoting/highlighting their "help" in certain situations. I can not help question if the core of our engagement with stories, especially via the media have gone askew and possibly prize sentimentalism over substance. Maybe this is why we have a 24- hour news cycle, there are journalists who disregard the dignities of new stories victims to deliver sensational stories. The point isn't about changing the lives of people for the better, yet rather making the viewers feel good, patting themselves on the back as the footage of suffering people elicit a compassion in them. We could even be extremely bold to say that there is a lack of exploring long term systemic causes of injustice in exchange for short term satisfaction of a more palatable resolution. 

Christians who do care about justice have to be careful not to turn justice work into opportunities for sentimentality - feeling good about being compassionate and pairing themselves as heroes. I often think we are very blessed to have inspiring people who have gone before us leaving an example for us to follow. Just think of Frederic Ozanam whose spirit is alive in todays society, bring justice to those on the margins. I personally think of Elizabeth Prout who brought justice to so many people during the Industrial revolution by giving them knowledge, education, skills to be able to help themselves in a situation that injustice was all around them. I believe that Elizabeth didn't think that justice was sentimentality, it is rather a movement for change. She speaks without words saying that we need to stop being spectators and involve ourselves in the stories of suffering and .. redemption perhaps. 

Both Frederic and Elizabeth show by example that justice happens when we align ourselves not as the heroes, but as participants in broken systems, bearing both the cause and the consequences of injustice. 

Their actions teach us this important lesson - 

Justice happens when we stop telling feel-good stories, and instead live genuine stories of faithfulness.