The Difference Between Unfair and Unjust
I read the following quote by RelientK and was angry: “The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair.” I was angry because I saw in these words yet another potential excuse for Christians to do nothing in the face of injustice, citing ‘grace’ as an excuse for their apathy.
As I continue to deal more and more with issues of social justice and action at work, I daily think about our society, the way things are, and the beauty of the way things could be. And I want to shout every time I do, because let’s get real folks: life ain’t fair.
While grace is one of the most beautiful concepts ever introduced into the lives of screwed-up humans, we often forget to be agents of it. But is it grace that allows that smelly man to be the one asking for change and not you? Is it grace that causes you to sleep in a warm bed and a six-year old to sleep on the street? Is it grace that underlies the fact that you didn’t join the military and a dead soldier did?
Unfortunately, predestined thinking such as this makes one person’s grace another person’s garbage. If we dare to be honest, we’ll find systems of oppression all around us – systems that need to be toppled and destroyed to their very foundations. It may not be grace that lets you enjoy hot cocoa and wi-fi at Starbucks, but rather simple luck. Use whatever word you want; the fact also remains that only recipients of grace and luck can be its harbingers.
Why is it so hard for those of us who have received and been given grace, or an easy route, or a leg up, or an unequal first chance, or who drew a better straw- why is it so hard for us to extend grace? Why do we demand that someone should only get money when they work for it? Why do we cry for blood the first time someone makes a small mistake? Why do we look out for our lucky self and forget about the unlucky others? Why do we stereotype? Why do we demand fairness and shirk from fighting for justice in the name of maintaining our lucky streak? Why do we demand restitution and an eye for an eye and payback with interest? Why do we forget where we came from?
The reality of our America is that without some sort of leveling out, some sort of unfair tipping of the scales to our disadvantage, justice may never happen. Weirdly, justice for all will only happen at the expense of unfairness to some – the very some who have already experienced unfairness, even though it was in their favor before.
Don’t let buzzwords like equality, grace, justice and fairness fly idly in your mind. Give them away. Whatever you call your fortunate lot in life, and whoever or whatever gave it to you, you are to now be a giving agent to someone else. To not do so is hypocritical, and an abuse of your privilege. After all, you don’t have all you do in order to be privileged – you have it to be responsible.
As I continue to deal more and more with issues of social justice and action at work, I daily think about our society, the way things are, and the beauty of the way things could be. And I want to shout every time I do, because let’s get real folks: life ain’t fair.
While grace is one of the most beautiful concepts ever introduced into the lives of screwed-up humans, we often forget to be agents of it. But is it grace that allows that smelly man to be the one asking for change and not you? Is it grace that causes you to sleep in a warm bed and a six-year old to sleep on the street? Is it grace that underlies the fact that you didn’t join the military and a dead soldier did?
Unfortunately, predestined thinking such as this makes one person’s grace another person’s garbage. If we dare to be honest, we’ll find systems of oppression all around us – systems that need to be toppled and destroyed to their very foundations. It may not be grace that lets you enjoy hot cocoa and wi-fi at Starbucks, but rather simple luck. Use whatever word you want; the fact also remains that only recipients of grace and luck can be its harbingers.
Why is it so hard for those of us who have received and been given grace, or an easy route, or a leg up, or an unequal first chance, or who drew a better straw- why is it so hard for us to extend grace? Why do we demand that someone should only get money when they work for it? Why do we cry for blood the first time someone makes a small mistake? Why do we look out for our lucky self and forget about the unlucky others? Why do we stereotype? Why do we demand fairness and shirk from fighting for justice in the name of maintaining our lucky streak? Why do we demand restitution and an eye for an eye and payback with interest? Why do we forget where we came from?
The reality of our America is that without some sort of leveling out, some sort of unfair tipping of the scales to our disadvantage, justice may never happen. Weirdly, justice for all will only happen at the expense of unfairness to some – the very some who have already experienced unfairness, even though it was in their favor before.
Don’t let buzzwords like equality, grace, justice and fairness fly idly in your mind. Give them away. Whatever you call your fortunate lot in life, and whoever or whatever gave it to you, you are to now be a giving agent to someone else. To not do so is hypocritical, and an abuse of your privilege. After all, you don’t have all you do in order to be privileged – you have it to be responsible.
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