Julie Huxsahl, ageal2, of Sioux City, Iowa, for her question:

Do justice and freedom go together?

Way back in the earliest human societies, the wise ones knew that a system of justice was necessary to hold people together. They based it on their ideas of fair treatment. When the current idea of justice was upheld by laws, the people felt safe and secure in their community. The idea that citizens also had freedoms within their systems of justice did not occur until much later in human history.

We live in challenging times of human history and it behooves every person to probe deep into the meanings of certain words. Too often we tend to talk about freedom and justice as though they were manageable objects, such as chalk and cheese. Actually they stand for human concepts of far reaching social values. No two people ever interpret either justice or freedom in exactly the same way. The best we can hope for is a society in which the majority of the people share more or less similar ideas of these concepts. In times of social stress, sane people strive to understand and share such basic ideas.

Stripped down to its bare bones, the word justice means fairness. But this could leave the decision of what is just and fair up to a supreme ruler. He might be a wise man    but in the past he often turned out to be a tyrant whose rules of justice were made to suit himself. The majority of his subjects went along with the system for a while. But sooner or later they started probing for ideas of justice that would be fairer to more of them. The concept of freedom was born. This was several centuries ago    and even the most thoughtful citizens are still trying to grasp its full meaning.

One thing we know for certain. The concept of freedom enriches the older concept of justice. But it cannot replace it, or the society will be torn apart by millions of muleheads. Infants and immature adults tend to think that freedom means that every person can do just as he pleases. Sensible folk know perfectly well that such notions are quite unworkable. Certainly at this stage of human history, all of us are entitled to certain basic personal freedoms. But with equal certainty, none of us can be sure of getting them unless our society shares a lot of basic ideas about justice. Freedom and justice do indeed go together    but to enjoy their privileges, every person must strive very hard to understand what these deep concepts really mean.

Many people tend to shirk the challenge to ponder such problems. They might have to give up a few self centered ideas and consider other people. To them, freedom means the right to do as they please with no regard for justice, which includes everybody else. When we become mature, we realize that every personal freedom carries with it a responsibility to be shared with the entire social community.