In America, we have Department of Justice, nine Supreme Court Justices, a criminal justice system, a Bureau of Justice Statistics, and so on…

Have you ever wondered why we don’t have a Department of Prudence?  Or a public Fortitude system?  Or maybe Supreme Temperance Officials (well, we sort of had that about 100 years ago – I’ll tell you about it another time)?

The virtue of Justice is unique, because it can be exercised only with other people.  And so, it is a matter of unique, public concern.  We can be prudent or imprudent on our own; temperate or intemperate in private; exhibit fortitude or cowardice without another person around.

But that doesn’t mean that Justice is limited to public officials administering public laws.  Every interaction you and I have with one another is, in some sense, a matter of justice.  And it is only because we commit injustices that government has a role to play.

Think of the story yesterday with king Solomon: He only had to rule in the case because one of the women was committing an injustice against the other; or the Lion on Monday, who made us think about the question of Justice only because of how he treated the Fox, the Jackal and the Wolf.  The Lion committed an injustice, and then took it upon himself to rule in the case in his own favor.

The American Founders understood all this, when they wrote in Federalist 51: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

But just because we’re not angels, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t aim to be as just as possible.  And here’s the thing: The less just we are to one another, the more justice will be required of our government, and the less free we will be as a result.  Edmund Burke said, “Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe.”

Less personal justice, more public justice; more public justice, less personal freedom.  That’s true in America; and that’s true in this school. 

So, remember that it is your job to exercise the virtue of Justice in your own life; it is not up to the government or your teacher or Mr. Buller.  What is at stake is not just your own virtue, but freedom itself.

Have a wonderful day.