In the world we live in today, we are in so many ways separated and different. We all have different worldviews, which speaks to the different life experiences that every human has. As a result of different upbringings and cultural backgrounds, people have dissenting opinions pertaining to the ways that we can form a more just society for the common good. In order to form a more just society for the common good, we must recognize differences to be a product of different experiences, cater to those distinctions accordingly and, furthermore, destroy perception and search for truth.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” provides countless ways in which King implores the people forward in the ways that we can form a just society. King Jr. famously stated: “anyone who lives inside the United States cannot be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.” This quote has application in our country, but also to the world as whole. King Jr. was referencing that blacks were treated as outsiders in the country that they were residents in, a country in which they were equal to anyone else. In a broader sense, King Jr.’s message still reigns true. At an even more basic sense, we are all humans, regardless of race, religion, culture, social or economic class, and we have a responsibility as humans to not allow other humans to be treated as outsiders in our world.
Further, King Jr. went on to say “whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” again, King Jr.’s point speaks to our responsibility as humans to take care of every other human in our society because we are interconnected. We, as humans, serve each other as a support system so that if people need assistance those who are more fortunate should lend a hand to those who are less fortunate. This idea is one of the most fundamental Catholic social teachings. King Jr. urges us to not fall into the “outside agitator”, that there are so called outsiders, who disrupt society just by simply existing in it. We should treat no specific group of people as if they are a disruption but rather as if they are of equal importance as oneself.
Perhaps one of the even more important appeals King Jr. makes is about our responsibility to “create tension in a society” that will help men “rise from the depths of racism” to the “majestic height of understanding and brotherhood.” When King Jr. says creating tension it is important to note that he does not mean violent tension, in fact, he means the opposite. King Jr. means that it is important that we create a society in which there is tension against unjust behavior, that way we are all equal and we all treat each other as such. Along the same lines, in a society where there is injustice, the youth of the generation develop an unconscious bitterness toward whatever injustice is oppressing them. King Jr. cited an example colored children, and see “ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people.”
In reading Dorothy Day’s the mystery of the poor, Day explains that we have a responsibility to treat the less fortunate as if that person was Jesus himself. Christ shows himself in the hands and feet of the poor around us. What we do for the poor we do for Christ, which leads to an increase in faith and belief in love. Day says that “The mystery of the poor is this: That they are Jesus, and what you do for them you do for Him. It is the only way we have of knowing and believing in our love. The mystery of poverty is that by sharing in it, making ourselves poor in giving to others, we increase our knowledge of and belief in love. “ Day further strengthens the idea that we must recognize differences, in this case in economic class, and cater to them accordingly. We should forget our perception of why the person is in the situation in which they are in but instead understand that it is reality and that we have a responsibility to help them just as if they were Jesus himself.
In July of 2009 Pope Benedict XVI published his first social encyclical Caritas in Vertiate. This letter is significant because it focused on problems of global development and progress towards the common good and it argues that both love and truth are essential and hold significant value to the common good. In the letter he writes, "the more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real needs of our neighbors, the more effectively we love them. Every Christian is called to practice this charity, in a manner corresponding to his vocation and according to the degree of influence he wields in the polis.” This quote from the letter is important because it speaks directly to how to forge more just society. What this quote means is that the more people work and attempt to cater to the needs of those in our society, the better we make them. This also connects back to the second great commandment when the Pope calls to every Christian to practice this, for it is their duty as men of faith to love thy neighbor. Pope Benedict XVI also writes, "It is the good of “all of us”, made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who together constitute society. It is a good that is sought not for its own sake, but for the people who belong to the social community and who can only really and effectively pursue their good within it.” What this quote means is that it’s the responsibility of everyone, individuals, families, and groups, to pursue good in society not for their own sake or just for the sake of doing it, but for all those who belong to their community. This letter is very important to understand how we can forge a more just society because it addresses all the people of good will, It doesn’t give direct solutions to the issues that society faces but it gives insight to the moral principles of love and truth as building blocks to these solutions.
Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, and the Pope Benedict XVI all speak in a number of different ways to the original thesis that In order to form a more just society for the common good we must recognize differences to be a product of different experiences, cater to those distinctions accordingly and further, destroy perception and search for truth. Martin Luther King Jr. explores this through first hand experience. King Jr. was an example of a person who was deprived of his rights, King was unjustly persecuted for the color of skin but he destroyed the perception that he, and others of his race were less through impeccable speech, impeccable manner, and impeccable written word. Not only did his ideas help the common good but also he set a precedent in being cognizant of injustice and how to go about destroying it, but more importantly avoiding it.
Dorothy Day used her religion as a mode of forming a more just society. Day used a chapter from the bible where Jesus explains that he is just like anyone else to explain that we should treat those who are much less fortunate than us in the same manner. Day destroyed the perception that the poor should be treated as less because they are economically “worth” less. Day explains further that once we break down the perception that those who are less economically fortunate we find that fulfilling our responsibility to take care of other humans who are in need actually brings joy and the fruition of faith. I think Day makes an excellent and important point here. So many in our society today are reluctant to help those in need because there is no immediate, physical gratification for themselves, neglecting to realize that in helping others there are solidarity benefits that can in some senses be even more meaningful than any physical gratification, all of these as a result of forming a more just society for the common good, Day strengthened her argument with an example of a lesson a priest taught his catechism class. The priest asked “How can you see Christ in people?” Day said: “It is an act of faith, constantly repeated. It is an act of love, resulting from an act of faith. It is an act of hope, that we can awaken these same acts in their hearts, too, with the help of God, and the Works of Mercy, which you, our readers, help us to do, day in and day out over the years.”
Thirdly, Pope Benedict XVI used his position of both power and his religion as a means of promoting a more just society for the common good. The Pope said, “Jesus formulated the precept of mutual love, which implies respect for every person and his rights. It implies rules of social justice aiming at recognizing what is each person’s due and at harmoniously sharing earthly goods among individuals, families and groups.” It is important that we think about this when forming more a just society. Each person is truly that, a person equal to anyone else, so why is it that we so quickly are swayed by what a person looks like, or their economic status, or even their cultural or moral believes? Each person’s rights are inalienable, much like Dorothy Day, Pope XVI has used religion as a means to destroy the perception that these rights hinge on meaningless details such as race, economic status, education, or even profession of choice.
Each of the three previously named are undoubtedly people with strong morals, that is to be sure, but what is the relationship between morals and human rights? Good morality is something that is taught. When you are brought up in the right environment with correct education and the right people around you, you gain a good morality. Morality is taught and learned, human rights however, are not taught nor learned, they are innate, every human is born with inalienable rights.
While just because society has the belief that rights are inalienable, it is our responsibility to keep each other in check. Different societies may have dissenting beliefs about which rights we are born with there is a common understanding about what is just and what is unjust. While some parts of society are lagging behind in giving their people the rights they are born with, most of the world is making strides to try to correct that. Depending on where in the world you are born you ay have varying standards of life relating to the way in which you are treated. For example, People who are born in third world countries, or countries that are under authoritarian rule are less likely to experience the same just treatment that many in the west have. This again drives home the point that Martin Luther King Jr. made in his letter from a Birmingham jail. We must act as the gadflies to create tension throughout society so that there is hesitation on the part of oppressors to enact treat others unjustly.
Finally, there is a second responsibility of everyone in order to form a more just society for the common good. Not only must we create tension so that society can come together in the name of brotherhood and understanding just as Martin Luther King implored but we must not be fearful of those rights when pursuing our own issues. In order to form a more just society of the common good we need to recognize differences and cater to those distinctions accordingly and further, destroy perception and search for truth. When these perceptions are not being met there should be no fear in speaking up about the circumstances at hand. No person should be fearful of losing the rights at hand when they are being unjustly treated. Martin Luther King made the point that “An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal. “ (Letter From a Birmingham Jail,4) It is important that while we do the best we can to form a more just society we not be negligent and understand that not every law is just. It is imperative that we recognize distinctions and differences destroy perception and seek the truth so that our society can operate justly.