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Thursday, March 29, 2007

justice.


“…restoring justice to children and the poorest of the poor” is the mission of the organization I work for.

Justice isn’t just a good guy vs. bad guy legal term that is determined in a courtroom with lawyers and judges. One dictionary describes justice as “fairness or reasonableness, especially in the way people are treated or decisions are made”.

Sometimes justice means communities are supplied with access to clean water, because nobody should have to die of thirst. Sometimes justice means educating kids and empowering them with them a sense of purpose, because they’ve been witness to countless abuses to humanity and they may not know how much purpose theyhold within themselves. Sometimes justice means taking a young girl out of a bad situation in order to love her, give her a glimpse of hope for her future, and teach her that although the world has abused her, she matters. Her existence is meaningful to the Life of the world. And sometimes it means inspiring a disillusioned power on the bridge of corruption that their contribution to their community and the world is needed. Their wisdom should be shared, and their hard work brings life to those it touches. And sometimes justice means freeing people from the slavery that is still so prevalent in this world we live in.

Kindness, goodness, generosity, love, joy, peace, patience, self-control. The author of a book called Galatians teaches that against such things there is no law. But I'm learning that in most places, there is no law that protects, inspires, or teaches such things. Nonetheless, there is always a place for such things – such things encapsulate justice. And there is always a place for this thing we call justice.