Today I read an article in the Washington Post about a man injured at Guantanamo. One quote really struck me. His mother asked, "What did the Americans do to him?" It struck me as a huge part of the problem. She sees Americans as this undifferentiated group who are complicit in maiming her son. Americans see all Arabic people as Muslims who want to destroy the USA.

I did not do anything to her son. I deplore what I know about Guantanamo. Its very existance and police state/secret police identity are not endorsed like Americans like me. Yet how can the people of each nation know about the people of another nation? How could she know about people like me - who abhor what our government is doing, who keep telling their political leaders that the current policy is unacceptable, who want a different way of dealing with issues. How can I know about the Muslims who practice the Quran in unmilitaristic ways?

Right now, the media are busy capitalizing on the differences, the sensational. They don't focus on every day people who disagree with the policy makers. They don't make waves by letting us understand the people of another nation, particularly ones in a nation where we are at "war". The media has no reason to work toward an understanding of the people of Iraq in terms other than terrorists and victims. We hear about Sunnis and Shites, but only when one group visits atrocities on the other.

Principle 2: Justice

I am a Unitarian Universalist. I find that it generally fits my philosophy/religious views, in part because it allows for a wide range of beliefs. Lately I have spent some time considering what the principles to which I am covenanted mean. The principles are:

We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Today’s topic is principle 2: Justice, equity and compassion in human relations.

I find "Justice" to be a kind of muddy concept. It has no clear bright lines of it is and is not. So what is justice? Okay, I am going to take a first stab at this. I reserve the right to retract any and all of it on further reflection.

Justice is state of being for groups and communities achieved by balancing personal freedoms with freedom from harm caused by others. It embodies both the legal and the emotional by recognizing that the situation defines the balance point. Example, if one stole an ice cream cone from me, it would be a minor harm and there would be little cry for justice. If one stole a ice cream cone from a child, there is a greater cry for justice because children have less power (and presumably less ability to replace the ice cream). If that child was starving, justice demands even more of a response, because we are getting into the ability to stay alive.

Not sure I have a better explanation for what I know when I see.
For more on the Unitarian Universalists, you can go to the church's national website:
http://www.uua.org/