Justice, Please

I recently came across a person who, in the heat of the moment, began an exposition on the evils of lying and cheating. He was extremely angry with a person whose blatant dishonesty shocked and appalled him to the point of disbelief. He simply couldn't understand how anyone could be so unkind and unfair. The dishonest behavior, incidentally, directly affected the well-being of this man and his family. As a result, his indignation grew exponentially with each thought of its impact upon himself, his wife and his innocent children. The poor man, I thought.

Each of us is endowed at birth with a sense of what can only be called Justice. I have cared for children since I was old enough to hold them and one of the first things you become aware of in a child's character is their sense of right. They don't have to be very old before they realize that if they have a thing in their possession and someone preemptively snatches it from them, they will become instantly indignant. It is not something learned by association or observation. It seems to be part of them when they arrive.

As a child grows, observes and learns, he becomes initiated into the customs of his surroundings and learns to appreciate more things, desire more things and as a result to wish to hold on to even more things. The old saying about something being as 'easy as taking candy from a baby' is, in my experience, bogus. Few things are more difficult. The truth is, from the time we are old enough to recognize a thing and desire to possess it, we become indignant if someone takes it from us.

As a mother, one of my chief responsibilities is that if 'justice of the peace' in my own home. I have settled disputes of every kind on a daily, hourly basis for over twenty-five years. Children, I have learned, naturally desire justice to be done when they have been wronged in any way and a mother is the natural judge of such things. As a seasoned and experienced judge then, I have found it most interesting that although children find it easy to become angry at their brother for an obvious offense, they find it even easier to commit the same offense against someone else.

There is in everyone, I believe, not only a desire for justice to be done to themselves, but also a knowledge that other people also deserve the same justice. However, this knowledge of the rights of others, sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of our daily lives and grievances. We can get so caught up in our own search for justice that we overlook the need to provide it to others. This is overwhelmingly the cause of the most disputes among my children. In the majority of cases, where one person has been wronged, they, (the victim), were almost invariably guilty of committing the same wrong against the perpetrator. Each in their turn demanded justice, but neither was willing to dispense it to the other. Each was willing to commit the offense and neither desired to admit it or correct that behavior.

Such was the case with the man I mentioned above. He was quick to point out the injustice of the person who had been dishonest and had hurt his family. He easily recognized the need, even the duty this person owed to him and his family, to be honest and upright in his dealings with him. He, however, in practically the same breath, began discussing with impunity and without the least hesitation, his own dishonesty in another matter. He justified himself in committing this dishonest act by saying that he needed the advantages it would give him. Amazed, I tried to point out that the same fault for which he was willing to send one man to jail, was also a part of his own character and didn't he think it strange to point an accusing finger at one person when justice would certainly demand that the finger also be pointed at him.

He looked at me, puzzled; as though the thought had never occurred to him. I wanted to tell him what I tell my children: If you expect justice from someone else, you have to give it. Children understand this concept, but often fail to live it. Unfortunately, I see no difference in many of the adults around me. Like children, they are all too willing to cheat their neighbor but become angry if anyone cheats them. And justice simply says: You deserve each other.

The Age of Distraction

I have grown up in a unique age in the history of the world. It has been called many things but today I will call it: The Age of Distraction. Wherever you go, there is something going on visually and audibly to attract and distract your attention. I do mean everywhere you go! From your living room to the grocery store to the dentist's office to the gas station, you are literally never alone with your thoughts because someone is out to get them all the time.

Driving down the freeway you would have to look at your lap in order to avoid the constant barrage of media being aimed at you. The intensive, high-tech mish-mosh of visuals can actually make you sick with some of the images and ideas they portray. On a more intense level, if you go to the theater to watch a new movie, you have to sit through at least ten minutes of advertising for upcoming movies for which you may or may not have an interest. But you are a captive audience, so they take advantage of you. They grab you, twist you around, shoot you in the gut and throw you back on your seat in a cold sweat and then say, “Enjoy the show!”

Some of the most annoying and distracting advertisements are the new electronic signs with video capabilities. They flash lights and images faster than you can actually read or process them, practically blinding you, and making it impossible to drive, leaving you with the feeling that you have just had a high-powered x-ray from the death star!

But of all the distractions on the planet, video games get the lowest marks in my book. I mean, ads can annoy, obnoxious music in the stores can offend and movie ads can be in-your-face and dreadful, but video games...well, that's another story. Video games do not play fair. They hit under the table, where you can't see it. Without a doubt, video games are potentially addictive. Alright, so you like to play video games. Big deal. You like to eat Twinkies too and no one makes a fuss. But according to some researchers, the average young American will spend 10,000 hours playing video games before the age of 21. That's ten thousand hours that might have been spent doing something useful. When I was a child, the big thing was that kids were watching too much television. The world reaped a harvest of dumbed-down children who are now having children of their own. These children are video game savvy youth who will spend more time playing those games than almost anything else in their lives. The result? According to an article by Sandy Hingston: “Sociologists cite five “markers” or “milestones” that have traditionally defined our notion of adulthood: finishing school, moving away from the parental home, becoming financially independent, getting married, and having a child. In 1960, 65 percent of men had ticked off all five by age 30; by 2000, only a third had.” [ quoted from: “22 Stats That Prove That There Is Something Seriously Wrong With Young Men In America” on theeconomiccollapseblog.com]

Some have attacked video games citing teen violence as a leading outcome. However, according to others, there is no real link between the two. But apparently it isn't what they are doing as a result of the games but what they are NOT doing. The most devastating effects of spending so much time doing other things besides living, have to do with home, family and life itself. According to the research I found, right now, approximately 53 percent of all Americans in the 18 to 24 year old age bracket are living at home with their parents and according to another survey, 29 percent of all Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket are still living with their parents. Young men and women should be taught to face the challenges of life with something like courage and fortitude. Instead, they are staying home, avoiding marriage and family, living off their parents, and essentially checking-out of life, by the millions. We are losing an entire generation of young people to a seemingly harmless distraction. It reminds me of the old commercials about literacy that said: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” Then I would add, a generation is an infinitely more terrible thing to waste.