Wednesday, March 4, 2009
king
one quote that stood out to me when i read king's letter from birmingham city jail was, "a just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. an unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. ... any law that uplifts human personality is just. any law that degrades human personality is unjust." what a great description of just and unjust. the end of this quote, about lifting or degrading ones personality confused me a little, but i loved his description of how segregation "damages the soul" and gives the false sense of superiority or inferiority. it is just such a powerful illustration. then he goes on to give examples of just and unjust laws, one being about the majority making rules that the minority has to follow, but the majority does not. on the other hand if the majority makes a rule for the minority but is willing to follow it also, then it is just. to me this part sounded a whole lot like something we all learned in elementary school. golden rule anyone? treat others how you want to be treated. call me crazy but i'm pretty sure segregation doesn't really follow this rule. then i came across another quote that really made me think about just and unjust laws. "i submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for law." this made me realize how much courage it takes to stand up so strongly for what you believe. i only hope that when i am provided the opportunity to support what is right and what i know is wrong, that i have the faith and courage to do so.
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Your right-- its easy for us to say what people of the past should have done, or even SAY what we would have done ourselves... but actually being brave enough to do what we say is completely different. I too hope that I would have been courageous enough to do what I say now.
ReplyDeletei enjoyed your quote about the uplifting and degrading of humanity as a way of judging justice.
I agree with both of you. Thinking of racism in the simple phrase, "Treat people how you want to be treated," makes it pretty easy to figure out how we should act. And like both of you, I too have often asked myself how differently I might have felt about controversial issues of justice in the past, in the moment. And I hope that I would feel the same way that I do now, but we are all shaped by the times we live in and our families. I want to believe that I would have stood up for what was right, and I hope that if I am faced with a similar situation in the future, I won't hesitate for a moment to do the just thing, even if it means breaking the law...tough stuff
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