Editorial April 21, 2003 Issue

Justice for all

Stephen T. Gray

The Christian Science Monitor

How broad is your sense of justice? Is it broad enough to take in a whole world? On a planet with more than six billion people, that's a tall order. The globe is a vast patchwork of cultures, languages, religions, and social mores. And within those broad swirls of values and customs are countless finer variations, resulting from each individual's distinctive history, unique family background, and personal circumstances.

Despite all these differences, all of these individuals share a desire for justice—justice for themselves and justice for those they care about. But their ideas of what is just can be a million miles apart—sometimes even when they're neighbors.

Wars, rebellions, terrorist acts, civil uprisings, and countless other forms of violence erupt when people's views of just solutions clash. In the Middle East, for example, contradictory ideas about just solutions among Palestinians and Israelis are driving a bloody cycle of suicide bombings and military reprisals.

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