What Color Is Your Justice?

What Color Is Your Justice?

We often frame justice in terms of "evil vs. good", "black vs. white" Science tells us that the absence of light is called "black" while light is called "white" "White" light however, is the sum of all colors combined.

Some people, in their passion for justice, have a fire that burns white hot, doing whatever it takes inside the bounds of morality to achieve justice.
Others have a flame whose white light is flecked with black spots, bending and stretching morality out of deep passion for the justice they seek.

I am neither of these people.

Yes, I have a deep passion for justice, an intense empathy for those whose lives are shattered by the blackness around them. This intensity is deepened by my own disabilities and poverty.

I also have a deep passion for integrity - one that goes deeper than just morality.

One of the first things I remember learning with my Dad was Psalm 15:

1 A psalm of David.
LORD, who may sojourn in Your tent,
who may dwell on Your holy mountain?
2 He who lives without blame,
who does what is right,
and in his heart acknowledges the truth;
3 whose tongue is not given to evil;
who has never done harm to his fellow,
or borne reproach for [his acts toward] his neighbor;
4 for whom a contemptible man is abhorrent,
but who honors those who fear the LORD;
who stands by his oath even to his hurt;
5 who has never lent money at interest,
or accepted a bribe against the innocent.
The man who acts thus shall never be shaken. (JPSTanakh)

Long after my dad's passing, as an adult, I was told that this absolute integrity was a family trait; that the Worrell's are 'honest to a fault' This integrity is my inheritance, it's in my genes.

The passion to merge justice with absolute integrity is who I am.

I did a little research to find out if integrity was associated with any particular color, and found dark blue mentioned. (Not sure if it's just coincidence, but blue has been my 'favorite color' since childhood)

So, while for many the fight for justice burns with a white-hot all-encompassing flame, the holy fire of my fight for justice is a blow-torch of deep blue. My quest for justice is focused through the prism of Torah's "love your neighbor as yourself" and Hillel's "what is hateful to you, do not do to another"

Rather than wanting to use my voice to call out against injustice in every area and any way possible, I want to be a pure flame calling out the names of each and every victim with integrity and dignity. This is who I am.

This Shabbat, as we read the names of the children of Israel who went down to Egypt, found themselves oppressed and cried out for justice, I will be carrying many other names on my heart as well. May the Holy One hear their cries through me as he heard Israel's cries in Egypt.

The color of my justice is dark blue — what color is your justice...?


Karla J. Worrell
December 20, 2013

 In loving memory of William V. Worrell and Bonnie Clarke Marrow

With gratitude to Rabbi Aaron Alexander for his gracious support as I find new depths to my Judaism that I never imagined existed.