Peter Benedict St Andrews Looks at Whether Social Justice Is Possible in Today’s Society
Peter Benedict St Andrews Looks at Whether Social Justice Is Possible in Today’s Society
For many, it seems as if social justice is now a thing of the past. People have become increasingly selfish, looking out for number one only. Switch on the television, and all you see is death, destruction, war, poverty, and other forms of human suffering. However, according to Peter Benedict St Andrews, social justice continues to be a possibility in today’s society. In fact, he feels it is absolutely necessary.
Peter Benedict St Andrews on the Current Situation
According to Peter, it is very important that we understand the situation that we are in today, and how we got to that point. By knowing and understanding this, it also becomes easier to find a solution. Ultimately, people need to feel safe in society, know that they can be outside without getting hurt, and essentially remain members of a strong community.
Peter Benedict St Andrews believes that people are scared. They are afraid that, if they so much as make a tiny violation of the law, they will end up close to death. They worry about mistakes made by themselves and how those will impact their friends, their parents, their brothers and sisters, and their children. And they worry how the decisions of these people will affect them. This is perpetuated by a number of key social issues, including police brutality and racial oppression, for instance.
Mainly, however, fear is fed by the media. Any news program is designed to show us just how bad the world around us is. It shows devastation as a result of hurricanes and earthquakes, followed by interviews with presidents unwilling to help. It shows reports on the destruction left from bombs and mortars, followed by a news piece of a prime minister negotiating an arms deal with Saudi Arabia. It is really no surprise that people continuously feel like they are in a life or death situation.
But this is also why Peter believes social justice is so closely linked to community development. He believes that, if just enough people work on starting something small, the ripple effect will eventually turn it into something bigger and wider, that will impact everything. And it isn’t difficult to see that the world is actually an amazing, and very safe place. Those same communities that were devastated by Hurricane Harvey also saw people pull together from as far as Louisiana to come and help. People left homeless by the earthquake in Mexico found shelter with other members of the community.
Social justice is alive and well. The difficulty is that the world is now so global, that we no longer see what is happening on our doorstep. All people have to do is look outside, at their own neighborhood and street, and see how much goodness is still out there. Social justice and community development, therefore, are inextricably linked. Get one right, and the other will follow. If enough people agree to that, then the news items will soon turn into something more positive as well.