I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW
/OR CAN I?
Often in times like this I struggle for the right words to say. See, I want to say something... I don't want to say something that will offend, and these days, no matter what you say you're going to offend someone and set off a frenzy of frustration and rebuttal. So why not just keep my mouth shut and lay down my pen and paper? I think it's because, for me, I work through stuff by writing, erasing, underlining, striking through. Many times I wad up the paper and through it in the trash. Is silence better than strife?
Often I think about vantage point. If I'm going to judge or offer an opinion I need to look at the position I'm in as I do so. Am I speaking as one who seeks to follow the teachings of Jesus? If I say that do people assume that I'm one of those radical, religious, evangelical, "blessed", nut jobs because I live in a deep red state and grew up in a southern baptist church? Can I really see things clearly wearing the goggles of a white, male, bald, baby-boomer. Is there a vantage point that allows me to think and speak and act justly? Of course, I can't suspend completely who I am, how I've been raised, the color of my lens, but I can try.
I reached out to a dear friend, who is one of the sanest people I know. I asked him to share his words as sort of guest post on my blog. He consented and I'm letting him have the last word. Thank you Dr. Randall O'Brien for friendship and wisdom.
After the emotions, comes thought:
*A THEORY of JUSTICE* Changes anyone???
(A theory, a book by John Rawls)
1. Who was John Rawls?
* A philosopher who taught at Oxford, Cornell, M.I.T. and Harvard.
* Famous for his Theory of Justice, and his book by that title, which sold 200,000 copies, and spawned 5,000 articles, papers, and other books (and counting).
2. What is Rawls’s Theory of Justice?
* Concerns SOCIAL JUSTICE.
* Rawls, essentially sees “Justice as fairness.”
* He establishes justice, or fairness, through a hypothetical “Veil of Ignorance.”
* Meaning? Meaning we imagine agreeing to the rules of society—fairness and justice—without knowing our place in society, our class, social status, assets, intelligence, etc, to which we might add race, gender, sexual orientation, abilities, or any other imaginable demographic.
In other words, what rules for a fair society would we write beforehand if none of us knew who we’d be in this world?
This “Veil of Ignorance” should lead to fair rules, and laws to enforce them.
3. So. Question: If we were to seek to form a more just society using Rawls’s theory, what changes would we make?
4. Let us remember: Justice is a coin with which we purchase peace.
5. With a tip of our hat to JFK, shall we acknowledge:
“Those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable.”
Hope.
By Randall O’Brien
