Blessed are those who act justly, who always do what is right. Psalm 106:3
Some of the biggest lessons I learned in high school didn’t come from the material we were covering, they came from life lessons taught by caring teachers. One of those lessons was during an economics class in high school taught by one of the football coaches. I did my assignments and received good grades on the tests while being pretty quiet in his class.
He was passing out grades one day, and it seemed like mine wasn’t quite right. It didn’t make sense, but what if I was wrong? I didn’t really want to disrespect my teacher and question him, but I didn’t think it was what it should’ve been. This was no reflection on him because he was always very kind to me and approachable. Anyway, I finally got the courage to speak to him about the grade. My voice didn’t reflect confidence that I should’ve had, since there was no reason to think my grade would’ve been anything besides an A in his class.
Do you know what? He got a bit firm with me, and I’ll never forget it. I swear he put that grade on there to teach me a lesson. He looked me in the eye and said in no uncertain terms that I was not to except something that I knew was wrong and that I never should be afraid to speak up. He taught me a lesson in finding my voice, in my confidence, and in justice. I will never forget that lesson or how thankful I am today.
The character trait for today is Justice-taking personal responsibility to uphold what is pure, right, and true (definition from characterfirst.com).
Thomas Jefferson said, “It is reasonable that everyone who asks justice should do justice.” So basically, everyone who wants to be treated fairly should treat others fairly. We do that through doing what is right every time. We respect and never take advantage of others. We must be impartial (unbiased, unprejudiced), treating everyone equally.
Ask yourself if you’re being reasonable and keeping an open-mind in each situation that is comes up. If you see an injustice taking place, stand up for that person. As my high school teacher taught me, never be afraid to speak up!
