This isn’t really a biographical post. It’s more just a catch-up. This year has been very transformative. I have started to understand more of who i am and who i was meant to be. last weekend I realized the importance of connecting with people in my same stage-of-life. Until now i have looked for that connection with people who are farther ahead in life. I am in Harrisonburg, VA right now and I will write a more coherent post this evening
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August 1, 2008 at 11:50 am
My friend, I do not need to introduce myself.
To begin, I would like to challenge you upon the idea of an “obligation” or “duty” to justice. I fail to see where “Justice”, at least in terms of entities other than oneself, becomes a responsibility. The idea of extending a personal view of what is preventing the realization of ultimate potential upon other people undermines your argument, at least insofar as approaching the matter from a place of humility. The view that others need your intervention is not a place of humility. It may not be a “bad” or “evil” place, but it is a place that speaks of conceit. The very idea that something beyond your person needs change is an exercise of perspective and ego, vulnerable to both corruption and distortion. Your idea of what needs changing may also be very different from that of another person.
It would also be nice to have a definition for Justice. You’ve defined Injustice, but is Justice really the realization of full potential, as you’ve intimated? If we as humans can not comprehend what someone’s full potential is, as I believe you said in your first paragraph, how can we pretend to play a part in Justice? The concept that we can act by our apparently inherant and accurate sense of “Injustice” and aid a Justice that we’re blind to doesn’t make sense to me. But I’ll put this aside for now and continue with the definition of Justice as the realization of full potential.
To address the supporting statement that regards “bullying” as an obstacle to the realization of potential, I don’t think this is always the case. It may serve to drive the victim to excel in areas that wouldn’t have expanded if they had not been demeaned, or may teach the victim to be able to cope in a stressful environment. A child may go home after being pushed around and labled a weakling and decide to start lifting weights. A young man that approached everyday in highschool as a chance of getting the spit kicked out of him may realize later that that training was what kept him alive after getting drafted into the middle of a guerilla war on the other side of the planet. Both are realizations of potential; whether ultimate or not, you said yourself that we can’t know.
I can now ask how you expect to intervene upon the behalf of another’s full potential from a place of humility without knowing whether you’re helping to fulfill Justice or not.
I fully agree with your conclusion that the answer to this dilemma begins with the self. I believe, however, that your “fight against injustice” should not leave the self. I would say that one should resist, not fight, this Injustice. Resist within the personal sphere, in a way that deflects Injustice from your person and prevents you from causing any to others.
~
Jaggamuffin