Friday, December 4, 2009

justice

what do we do when a minor circumstance and what could be deemed as casual interaction lead to justice dilemma? As i was going through my day, what was intended to be relaxing and unobtrusive event ended into a dilemma for me. although parties involved might not have perceived it in a similar way, i had to think through how our act would perpetuate a tendency to assume and default to the negativistic and selfish view of 'its just how people are these days' kinda thinking. there were issues of how we thought only of ourselves and rationalized our behaviors to justify our actions. Blame toward the other party was even concocted in order to further rationalize the behavior. what i kept thinking was, if we behave this way already when we have plenty of resources, how would we behave when there is scarcity and the desperation for survival means comes into picture. i really had to sit through and think about how i could act on this. am i going to do something for the sake of saving face (so Chinese of me), or are there larger implications of how i need to consider the welfare of others due to my action/inaction?
How much of my own desires to not pay where due is needed perpetuate an injustice and selfishness that distort our sense of responsibility not just to others, but to ourselves for the resources that we use. How much of our refusal to take on our responsibility do we then impose onto others to take on, because we refuse to recognize and accept our own? So much for a relaxing day....