Is justice really just?
Justice. What is it? Is it a thing, a value, an idea, an ethic, a rule and ideal? Plato tells us that Socrates sought answers by examining the opinions of passerby in Athens 2,500 years ago. A variety of answers were given, even Socrates’ own. But Socrates was as unsure as his interlocutors. To do with the soul he opined. In our world, that of the west, and knowing best from sea to shining sea, most of us do not have a clue. And for those that do, it is highly skewed – that is we make of it what we wish, which is pretty much where it stood in the times of that man martyred for his piety. But it is more than a wee bit up in the air today.
Judges deal in justice. Or they are supposed to. There is a judge on the bench in Cherokee County that does not have an inkling. Even though the North Carolina Judicial Code of Conduct lays down tenets and parameters regarding justice that are not to be crossed. Impartiality is one such. Fairness is another. Not taking sides for personal or political reasons. But this judge flaunts all that. When she can. When she knows she can get away with it. This no doubt is not an unusual tale. Judges across the nation abuse their authority. The power of being king or queen of the courtroom goes to their heads. They have lost their way. And so have many if not most Americans. You can not expect leadership in a courtroom – the place where, if any, justice should not be tainted.
Times are moving too quickly for the good, the true and the beautiful to bear fruit in its kinship with justice. We are bedazzled by novelty, by mayhem, by anxiety, rootlessness, transformation, self-contentedness, extravaganza and decimation of value that no longer has a linchpin enabling the connection between and among those values we once held most dear. To be tried is in the nature of life. To be tested is in the nature of wisdom. To break with the past with no firm and reasonable and just sight of the future leaves us only in the present. No age with whomever its people has ever lived solely there.
The Zen monk is compelled by biology to escape the moment. The committed Christian too frequently forgets her aim is heavenward. Time is all a whirl around us but we know not how to trim our sails. Forsaken by those who acquire power we are left drifting in a miasma of laxity in the upholding of the just.
So what is this just after all. Or before all? Is there embedded in justice some universality? Some absoluteness? Or is it merely a matter of a particular people and a particular time? Does God dispense it? Or does God leave it to man to make of it what he or she well? Humans shed blood over it. From suicide, to family, to neighbor, to country. Nobody acts without it. Even the insane act on terms to which justice refers. If it will not manifest in Congress, or the courtroom or even in the church, what machine or technical device will ever give life back to it?
Or is justice only and always been a gossamer flotsam put forth by power playing among those who are positioned to avail themselves of it? Socrates died for it. Justice did as well. Is that what justice is? Dedicating or giving your life for a cause?
Paul Blank, Franklin
Arts council seeks leaders
As the Cherokee County Arts Council considers the opportunities a New Year offers, we are looking to expand the capabilities of our board of directors, and invite members of our community to consider a term of service with the N.C. Art Council’s Designated Partner here in Cherokee County. If you value the arts and can commit to helping grow, we’d love to talk to you.
The arts council’s work is to provide a variety of visual and performing art experiences for the general public and for students, to distribute and administer state and federal funding for our community’s art organizations, and to enhance the positive impact of the arts by collaboration with regional art groups, as well as with local civic groups and art focused organizations in western North Carolina.
We subscribe to the philosophy that a strong, high functioning board derives its strength through the diversity of race, gender and work background of its members. We also know that the arts are a significant driver of both the economy and the quality of life of our community.
Questions are welcome, of course. Message us on Facebook or email director@cherokeeartscouncil.org.
David Vowell, Murphy
The writer is executive director of the Cherokee County Arts Council.