One of the great ideals that we try to live up to is being just. Having a fair and balanced approach to how we interact with others is key to building stability within a community. When people trust that a system is not going to be discriminatory, then they are more willing to commit and contribute towards that end. If the outcomes will most likely be fair, then we are able to trust in and participate in the process.

One of the things that could help us to overcome our sense of division in this country is to refocus our energies on our core beliefs. If justice is truly important to our culture, then it should be upheld and discussed. If we can come to agree on our ideals, then maybe the details of how we process conflict and how we measure rewards will feel more fitting. With the bizarre social experiments that we are all a part of, it has become beyond challenging to find common cause in our core values.

Justice is a tricky term. In Plato’s Dialogues it has more to do with the common good than with individual punishment. Justice is the ultimate goal, the greatest good. It is a pure version of the truthful relations between people. The effects we have on each other are positive and negative and justice attempts to account for all of that energy. How do we come to an agreement about painful differences in judgment?

We need to return to thinking about our core beliefs. If we really study what justice is and what it requires, then we might be able to help ourselves to see the world more clearly for what it is. It never is just us.