Reflective Essay: Social Justice And Personal Values

The Purpose of this essay is to reflect upon an experience which relates to the chosen topic of dignity and respect, this was highlighted in my self-assessment (please see appendix) Acknowledging a persons’ dignity can contribute to their sense of good health, well-being and independence. Dignity is an essential element of high quality care and involves aspects such as respect, privacy, autonomy and self-worth (The Welsh Assembly, 2007)

Social justice is the fair and proper law that shows everybody is equal regardless of their color, race, gender, religion, etc. The thought of executing another human being is completely harsh! My whole life I have been thought that killing is wrong and that no human being has the right to kill another induvial. To my surprise, it’s what’s happening in our society every day. Giving the death penalty, has no justification. It’s another crime being committed, but this time by the government. The death penalty is usually given to a person that’s found guilty of a capital crime. However, it’s not easy to consider the death penalty as an easy way to punish the guilty. Though many people believe that the death penalty is the right way to punish people that has done hideous crimes, it’s possible to kill an innocent person, citizens pay million for the death penalty, and people of color are more likely to be given capital punishment. The death penalty is a violation of human rights and it should be abolished.

A forward thinker, I believe passionately in fairness and equality. My enthusiastic approach demonstrates high expectations and allows me to make a valuable contribution to the individuals with whom I work with. I promote people’s development specially those who are disadvantaged, empathy to the disadvantaged and challenge discrimination.

The issue that my social justice initiative focused on was gender discrimination against women in sports. You can tell this by the banner I made on my website.

One of my biggest projects the past two years was serving a committee member with the Soroptimist Club of Madera, California to help create the event “Dream it, Be it” This event has touched my heart because it shows girls that no matter your race, religion, or current financial status you can achieve your dreams. Many girls in my small town do not have people in their lives that support or motivate them. It was extremely important to me that these girls realize that they are more than statistics, that they have powerful hungry brains that are willing to take them to the next level with hard work. I wanted these girls to know that I believe in them and I am willing to put my time and energy in for them. Being a first generation college student myself, I knew that I needed to use my voice to help girls to go after their dreams, no matter how far off they may seem. I have been a key member in making this event come to life and through this event I have been able to speak to girls and motivate them. I have found inspiration through community service and I want to spread this fire in my heart. I have been able to use leadership as a powerful tool for growth in my community. In hopes that one day everyone will go after their dreams and desires and use these skills to benefit

I began working for ABCD Head Start as a Family Advocate because I have always had a passion for social justice. This passion was what pushed me to work in an environment where I could commit myself to making meaningful change in people’s lives. It wasn't until I was pursuing my bachelor’s degree that this passion became fully realized. During the course of my education I took classes in sociology, such as Working for Social Justice, psychology and cultural studies, that provided a unique comprehension of the various issues that underprivileged people face. I learned the mechanics behind their oppression, as well as the key roles that non-profit institutions play behind eradicating them. It takes more than passion to be able to navigate the various systems that are complicit in poverty and those that are in place to help eradicate it. Thanks to my education I am now keenly aware of the intersectionality between socio-economic status, race and gender, and that acute understanding allows me to use my passion and the resources provided by ABCD to make lasting change.

An experience that has made a profound impact on my life was when I directed and completed a community service project to fulfill a requirement for the Eagle Scout Award in the Boy Scouts of America. In order to competently act as coordinator for this service project, I had to develop both my interpersonal communication and leadership capabilities to a proficient level. Besides improving my professional skills, this project gave me the opportunity gain hands on experience working with groups of people who had varying skill levels. So, not only did these skills allow me to complete the project successfully, they have also proven incredibly useful throughout my academic career.

Social Justice: Justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society.

An experience that has provided me with the most growth as a person is my involvement in mentoring an at-risk teen in Athens, GA for 3 years. Mentoring has improved my leadership and interpersonal skills. It kept me accountable to living at a higher standard in order to be a positive role model for another person. I also developed a greater appreciation for diversity from spending time with a person from a culture much different from my own. Overall this experience instilled a passion for all people regardless of race, ethnicity, social status, gender, or age. A genuine interest for others motivates me to learn more about human behaviors and pursue a career in counseling. Another experience I have that has provided me with opportunities to grow and improve is my experience as an intern at Jay’s Hope Foundation. The Jay’s Hope Foundation offers many different avenues of support to children diagnosed with cancer and their families. I was able to be in direct contact with families facing life-threatening situations. It was a very emotionally heavy internship, but I learned so much and was encouraged by the resiliency of the children and families. At Jay’s Hope, I learned the importance of teamwork, I developed flexibility, I became more organized, and I gained more confidence in my ability to

It has been proven that often, the fight for social justice and the common good comes at a great cost to those involved. Through writings such as Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and Sophocles’ “Antigone”, as well as, lectures such as Dr.Colbourn’s lecture “Confronting History and the Good Life: Life after Rosewood” it is demonstrated how life, freedom, and a normal everyday life suffer as a cost of fighting for social justice and the common good.

Oftentimes, the definition of social justice can be misinterpreted or misunderstood. The true definition of social justice is often structured by governmental implications but is the fair and proper administration of laws to each individual conforming to the natural law. Equality is supposed to be equally distributed amongst individuals nationally, but can sometimes be taken advantage of and be taken away from people who deserve it the most. Generally, those who view social justices as a right, also value people above profits.

What is social justice and how does it relate to liberation theology? How do sin, love, grace, and human freedom affect social justice? What restricts freedom and social justice? And how does all of this play a role in the Kingdom of God?

Over the years in our country’s history it has been apparent that the idea of same sex marriages is becoming much more popular, however in most states there is still one thing stopping them. That one thing stopping two people from the pursuit of happiness which they desire is a social injustice. Social injustices are situations where a person or group of people is treated unfairly due to certain factors for example discrimination, prejudice, racism, heterosexism, sexism, and so forth. In the case of same sex marriages, the factor playing a major role in this social injustice is where most people believe that opposite sexes attract, but in the case of a same sex couple wanting to be married, this brings about many topics to be discussed by

Social sciences and social justice are both based on the structure of rights. Our rights were designed to create equality for all. However, there are always outliers in our justice system and these outliers can be seen by all. My background and demographic are aggressively average growing up in a small, rural community with little diversity which has affected my views about justice. The class Social Problems and Social Injustice has aggressively opened my eyes to new statistics about society and has made some of my intuitions validated and destroyed some of my prior views. My new understanding of social justice is that is was created for all by excluding some. Justice is the structure of our institutions and society.

When will we stop being unjust? Our society today is full of problems and issues. We not only experience economic and politic issues, but we face social problems as well. One main problem that our society must acknowledge is injustice. However, many members of our society are blind not to recognize that permitting unjust and unfair acts is an actual injustice. They believe it’s appropriate to judge others, to make inappropriate comments and to be disrespectful.