In The New York Times’s newsmagazine for teens, “Upfront,” I found several stories of justice or injustice to help me form a definition of justice, at least according to what I found in these articles.
In the October 9, 2006 issue of “Upfront,” the cover story was about Africa’s Child Laborers, which features the life of a 9-year-old boy who crushes stones in Zambia in order to survive on a daily basis. He works six days a week in this dangerous and arduous job. This is injustice—to have a young boy robbed of his childhood and forced to work in a dangerous job to fend off starvation and death for him and his grandmother.
In the January 15, 2007 issue of “Upfront,” the cover news story was:
Darfur: The Genocide Continues.
I felt that this news story showed a great injustice against humanity.
In the February 5, 2007 issue, the cover story was about the The Death Penalty Debate, the debate that epitomizes the conflict between justice and revenge and the right to kill for whatever reason.
In the March 12, 2007 issue, Unfinished business: victims of civil rights era crimes are finally getting justice through the persistence of relatives, journalists, and prosecutors. This news story very much encompasses what our justice system is supposed to do and it almost shows how it is redeeming itself, at least partially, after years of having allowed crimes to go unsolved or even uninvestigated.
On the nytimes.com, July 5, 2007, in the article,
Contractors Back From Iraq Suffer Trauma From Battle, it is apparent that two-different standards are being used. Those contractors that come back from Iraq are not being taken care of by the government—they, as well as the troops, need treatment and help too.
My definition of Justice: (A little disorganized):
According to the articles above, justice entails a certain sense of reverence, in which everyone knows his/her place as a child, role model, civilian, leader, etc. and as such there is a responsibility as part of a person’s moral sense to do what is right by attempting to halt injustice when they see it. (Almost balance in other "virtues," like reverence in the life of Alone Banda). Also, justice is the case by case application of the theory of eye for an eye or punishment for whatever wrong committed that is needed to reach balance or a sense of “closing.” Not only that, justice has no time limits and thus if past wrongs were committed and ignored at the time that they took place, the righting of past wrongs is also entailed. Also, applying the same standard to everyone indiscriminately as best as possible.
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