Echoes of the voice
1. The desire to make the world right
Recently, at night, I had a vivid and exciting dream. But what depresses me, I cannot remember its contents. When I woke up, I felt a glimpse of it, so I could realize how unusual and meaningful this dream was, and then everything went away. Thus, to paraphrase T. Eliot, I got the meaning, but I missed the experience.
This is somewhat reminiscent of our desire for justice. We dream of a just peace. For a moment, we may have an image of a single world where truth reigns, where problems are solved, where healthy human communities live, where we not only know how to act, but also act in this way. And then we wake up and come back to reality. But what do we hear when we see such a dream?
It seems as if we hear not the voice itself, but the echo of the voice – this voice is full of calm and endowed with healing power, and it speaks of justice, of the correction of people's lives, of peace, hope and prosperity for all. And this voice continues to sound in our imagination, in our subconscious. We would like to go back and listen to it again, but we are already awake and cannot fall asleep. Someone will tell us that this is just a fantasy, and we ourselves may believe it, realizing that this is how we turn into cynics.
But this voice does not fall silent, it calls us and draws us to itself, it makes us think: what if justice really exists, what if a world in which truth reigns is possible, although these things are so difficult to imagine? Here we are like moths trying to fly to the moon: we all vaguely understand that justice exists, but we cannot get to it.
It is not difficult to make sure of this. Go to a school or playground where children are already using words and talking to each other. Listen to their conversations. Very soon, one of them will say to the teacher or another child: "So unfair! "
A child does not need to be specially taught the categories of honesty and dishonesty. A sense of justice is simply embedded in a person. We feel it as if "in our gut".
Let's say you fall off your bike and break your leg. In the hospital, you were put in a cast. For a while, you have to walk with crutches. And then, gradually, you start walking normally again. Soon you will forget about all this trouble. You have returned to normal life. Something here was corrected, became correct, returned to service. You can fix the situation when a broken leg, when a toy is broken or the TV is out of order.
Why do we fail to correct injustice?
It cannot be said that no one is trying to do this. There are numerous courts and laws, judges and lawyers. I used to live in a part of London where there were too many law enforcement officers: there were legislators and law enforcement officers, the chief justice, police departments, and an army of lawyers nearby (although, since they were constantly arguing with each other, they were not well prepared for battle). Similar organizations that create laws and enforce them exist in any other country.
But at the same time, there is an impression that justice is slipping out of our hands. Sometimes its principle works, and sometimes, and too often, it does not. The courts condemn the innocent and do not touch the guilty. The impudent, and with them those who can buy off trouble with money, escape justice, if not always, then quite often, so that it is difficult for us to dismiss the question: why is this so? People do great harm to others – and at the same time they walk the streets laughing. Victims do not always receive reparations. Sometimes they spend the rest of their lives in bitter sadness, suffering from pain.