Appealing To Your Better Self
For most of us there's a struggle between generosity of spirit, and selfishness and greed. Many of us succumb to the idea that somehow we're more deserving than others which lead to a crisis of justice. Unjust can be defined as not behaving according to what is morally right and fair. The opposite can be found in the second half of the Golden Rule, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself. It means all your neighbors. Which leads to an awareness that there is something bigger than me.
I looked up Social Justice. Those who seem to scoff at the concept of the greater good implied in the Golden Rule tend to use Social Justice as a pejorative. I looked up Social Justice and found this, "Social justice is a concept of fair and just relations between the individual and society. This is measured by the explicit and tacit terms for the distribution of wealth, opportunities for personal activity and social privileges."
It's okay to struggle with this concept. Hopefully, your better self wins. I found this quote which seems to put the struggle into perspective.
“A fight is going on inside me,” said an old man to his son. “It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other wolf is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. The same fight is going on inside you.”
The son thought about it for a minute and then asked, “Which wolf will win?”
The old man replied simply, “The one you feed.” — Wendy Mass, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life
Which one are you feeding?
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