Fairness and justice are two concepts which bring a great deal of stress into our lives. It seems that we spend half our lives giving out about acts or events that we deem to be unfair or unjust. However, this is merely a waste of time and a cause of upset for us. If I were to ask you to define fairness and justice; could you do so? Would your definition match that of everyone else? Of course not, fairness and justice don’t exist. They are subjective concepts so the pursuit of them will only ever be a fruitless mission.
Take a look at nature and, in particular, the pain and devastation that has been caused throughout the world over the past few years. We have had devastating earthquakes, extreme flooding and raging hurricanes, just to mention a few. Each of these events causes huge loss of life and extensive damage to property and infrastructure. Can any of these events be described as just or fair? No, but they are the natural way of the world. Fairness and justice are concepts that human beings have introduced but they do not exist in the natural world.
The concepts of fairness and justice are so ingrained in us that it has become an essential aspect of political campaigning. Regardless of which country you live in, you will no doubt have had politicians promise you a fairer society. But that is not possible. Not only is it not the natural way of the world but the very idea of fairness is a subjective one. People will always disagree on a definition of fairness as they are readily influenced by their own circumstances. Take for example the current world economic crisis. Governments throughout the world have to eliminate masssive budget deficits and repay incredible loans. So, how do they do this fairly? Do they cut welfare, education, health, the public sector pay bill etc? Alternatively, do they raise taxes? Do they tax those on minimum wage? Do they introduce a new tax band for high earners?, do they increase VAT etc? Whatever path they choose there is one thing that you can be sure of – there will be many people complaining that the decisions are unjust and unfair; most likely those who have been on the receiving end of the decision and have been left with less disposable income. Those who escape the pain are more likely to believe that the decisions are fair. Thus the arguments over fairness will rage on.
When we sit back and demand justice and fairness, all we are really doing is asking for someone else to deal with the situation. We blame God, Governments, the wealthy, the poor; anybody else. In many instances our demand for justice allows us to take the higher moral ground and claim that we would have done things in a fairer way. So why do we continue to seek justice and fairness?
Why we cling to the concepts of fairness and justice:
- Avoiding responsibility i.e. it was someone else’s fault; they should have done it differently.
- It allows us to be arrogant and smug
- We can excuse vindictive behaviour i.e. it had to be done in the name of justice
- Attention seeking and self-pity
- Avoiding difficult actions i.e. there is no point trying as the odds are stacked against us.
When we accept that fairness and justice do not exist, we can choose to be true to our values and do what we believe is right at any given moment. We understand that others may not agree with the choice we have taken but that is their right just as it is ours to do what we believe is best. There will be some who will support us; some who will not but will accept our decision and some who will vehemently disagree with us. However, they are all just opinions and none of them make our decisions right or wrong.
So, why not forget about the notions of fairness and justice and instead focus on what you believe to be right.