Defining Justice

How do you define justice? Some say it is giving one what is due, but in this dynamic and fast-changing world, does this definition suffice? Shouldn’t justice be not limited only to its legal definition per se but widened enough to offer different perspectives.
 
Many people associate justice to laws, legal procedures, court hearings and things of similar nature the moment they hear the word. Often, it is associated with a magistrate, a lawyer and a litigant. However, only a few associates it with daily activities in life like treating neighbors fairly or paying one what is due to him or distributing things equally.
 
Justice, by virtue of its definition, pertains to just behavior or treatment, aside from its legal definition. This is often forgotten though. In this definition, it is clear that we have to be just in the way we treat other people in whatever we do, big or small. As such, we have to be mindful of how we look at others since it can greatly affect the way we treat them. Often, the difference in treatment stems from an unequal perception towards a person or a group. Say a person who favors one group tends to exclude the other or one who does not look favorably at a person tends to maintain a particular thought against that person or group.
 
The Word says, “You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.” Yet in applying this, we fail in the most basic things like simply treating the clients who come seeking for help in our offices. Simply treating one who is dressed properly as against one who came in with shorts and slippers is an act that does not exhibit justice. Simply delaying one for any reason other than those legal, exhibits unequal treatment.
 
During this time of pandemic, how have we been living? Have we been just in terms of treating people? In distributing goods or rendering services to clients, have we, in one way or another, exhibited injustice? In entertaining things brought before our office, have we been practicing justice? In terms of social justice, have we made sure that those whose who are under us been receiving equal opportunities, equal workload and equal benefits? In our neighborhood, have we been partial or equal in terms of treating them? What parameters have we used in viewing people? Have we equated their worth in terms of their possession, status and the like? For people who are in power, have we been favoring one person against the others? For what reason?
 
Let’s learn to treat everyone fairly, for whatever MEASURE we use to MEASURE another shall be used to MEASURE us. Whatever we sow, we shall reap. ​(JBB, CRFV)