#waxingpoetic

[brucethewannabebard]

Just/Right

We all, at least outwardly, want to do the right and just thing. We strive towards it, and our souls really do rebel against those of us who don’t until they either change or become monsters. So we try to be kind to those around us, to seek to right the wrongs we see. Most of us fall short often, and all of us fall short eventually. After all we are only human. But we use terms like justice and morals and right like they are interchangeable. Which of course leads us to thinking that the opposite of one is the opposite of them all. the opposite of right is wrong, the opposite of a just action is an unjust one. An unjust action is then by this simple mistake also a wrong action, and a just one is always the right. 

Where this falls apart is in the third example I gave. The moral aspect. We can argue semantics all day about how morals are gray areas, fluid, determined by society, the usual philosophical debates, but that isn’t really important for this. See regardless of if you view morals as an absolute or as a nebulous ever changing mess doesn’t change the real crux of the problem. Because morals determine what is right. Justice is based on what is fair. But the moral thing is often not the fair thing. Which is usually fine. Most people can use good judgement to tell when to use which and never actually take time to think on it long enough to realize that they are not the same thing. 

The problem comes when you are in a situation that forces you to choose between the two when both options cause damage. If someone hurts you, the just thing is for them to be hurt in an equally befitting manner. Not necessarily the same way, but an equivalent. The morally right thing is to forgive or at least accept the pain, learn, and let go. Most cases these things can be either achieved together or it is easy to go one way or the other with a clean conscience. 

Someone steals from you, and has no remorse or good reason for doing so. They get charged for the theft, found guilty and punished by law. You are now satisfied that justice has been served so you can move on and let go of the incident, though you may now be more cautious with your possessions. The just thing facilitates a version of the right thing. In the same scenario, you find the person who stole the thing was a mother with starving children and only stole as a means to make ends meet to feed them. The just thing is still to lock her up with the same punishment as the other thief. She was not wrong to do what it took to feed her children, in fact that is a morally good goal and if that was the only option then it was the right thing for her, despite being unjust. But the right thing for you is to forgive her, show empathy, and find a better solution that helps her out and retrieve your things. In this way the right thing has nothing to do with justice, and the right thing to do here is a bit more muddled as that is a complicated situation to address for most people. You have right but no justice. Conversely, to seek justice here would leave you without having done what is right. 

Same situation again, though now the cause of this woman’s plight is due to an employer firing her and ruining her career to cover up a mistake they made, thus putting her into poverty. Now the just thing is not to punish her, but to seek retribution against the true villain in this instance. That justice is not your responsibility, but ultimately punishing that employer would be justice for the wrong you received given it was the cause of the injustice against you. The right thing to do is help with that justice. In this instance the right thing would facilitate the just, which is the inverse situation of our first example. 

But these might as well be abstracts that most likely the average person wouldn’t encounter. So thinking on them is both fairly simple and detached. So let’s make it more personal. Let’s talk about a situation most people have first hand experience with. 

You see most people have a sense of justice and a sense of right that are fairly active. Mine happen to be stronger than many, the result of being a fairly liberal individual raise in a family of cops and firemen and nurses. So I have a very overdeveloped sense for helping people in both just and right ways because of the examples set for me and the credos set by the groups, even if in some cases there are many who have perverted or contradicted the credos they hide behind. Now days people see injustice happen a lot, from the way rich individuals get away with destroying lives of those around them to the systemic issues caused by corruption and bigotry within established organizations, to just some random scum bag thinking they can treat people like less than people. But that is moving with masses, whether right or wrong it is easy to convince yourself that you definitely are just and right because those around you back up your belief. It is easy to do what is just and right with public consensus. After all if everyone around you is on the same page it must be so. Thus it holds you up to a standard that you might let slip in a more private moment. 

So let us explore a very personal example that most of us have seen or experienced in some way. You fall in love with someone. You do your best to be a good person, to support them, to be understanding and communicate. You are far from flawless, but by all accounts anyone looking in objectively would see that you are being a genuinely healthy partner. Apologize when you are wrong, make amends, listen to your partner, the usual. Then despite all that, your partner cheats on you. They leave you for that person. Maybe that is it and nothing else goes wrong. Maybe they do it in a manner that upends your whole life, causing you to move, lose things from jobs to cars and whatever else you might have had. Most likely it is somewhere in that large spectrum in between. 

Most people Find themselves in one of two camps now. Either the camp of doing what is right, in which you accept the loss and just try to learn and move on, not doing anything for vengeance. Or you are in the camp of justice, in which your hurt and anger find purchase in your quest for fairness to act through the knowledge that the one who wronged you owes a penance equal to your pain. 

The first camp is less common, especially if the hurt was severe. But the right thing is in fact to not stoop to their level and try to do them harm simply because they deserve it. After all, simply because someone deserves punishment doesn’t mean it is right for you to do it. So secure in the knowledge that you are doing the right thing you drive away the need for justice, though it may take time. So you go more often than not, with the one who caused the injustice against you getting away with it. 

The second camp is the more complex one. See while there are many ways to reach the right conclusion it is often less varied in its degrees. Some people get so caught up in the idea of getting justice that they overstep and become the new offender. We are assuming a normal none abusive partner is the one cheated on in this example, no instability or unchecked rage. This can still prompt some harsh responses, though typically not any on the same level as the dangerous individuals who make news for things like this. Often times all you want for this justice is for them to feel remorse in equal parts to your pain. Not necessarily that you want bad things for them or that you intentionally are trying to harm them. But people are fallible. When you are hurt you don’t think rationally all the time, and in the heat of the moment you can say things you don’t fully mean or lash out. The fact of the matter is that you doing so is Just, to a point at least. An eye for an eye and all that. They hurt you emotionally, so doing the same isn’t unjust. But it also isn’t right. Eventually the reasonable good person who had this happen to them stops lashing out because they know that it won’t matter in the end. Justice will never be enough to satisfy this time. Only right can. So they eventually do what is right. The only real questions left are when do you give up on justice and how long does it take for you to forgive yourself for seeking it in the first place? For you knew deep down the whole time that the justice was wrong.

[otrtbs]

istg I just woke up and immediately saw you waxingpoetic about abh Reg if he was yk. how am I simply suppose to go about my day now? I have WORK TO DO, MY RENT IS DUE. HOW CAN I PAY MY BILLS WHEN JAMES IS HUMMING A LITTLE TUNE WHILE HE LOOKS UP AT THE NIGHT SKY AND REGULUS IS UP AND READY FOR HIS DAY WITH THE BREAKFAST MADE AND THEY WALK ALONG THE BEACH BEFORE IT GETS BUSY

HI GOOD MORNING HELLO!!! <333

you simply have to call in sick and defer ur rent payment on account of grief and bereavement !! or emotional damages !! show ur landlord the post, they’ll understand 😭😭

[ravingsofamadsoutherner]

Relics of the "Good Old Days"

Relics of the Good Old Days #Blog #Blogging #Blogger #Relics #GoodOldDays #Boomers #WaxingPoetic #GlorifyingThePast

“One tatty old man in jeans—what was he thinking? Jeans are for young people.”― Jo Walton, Among Others I stood in front of my closet staring at racks of pants, neckties, and dress shirts that I wore when I fought the teaching wars. I’ve been fully retired for nearly a decade, and these are nothing more than relics from those days. Several suits and old man Fedoras that I once thought were cool…

[carpenterclanmom]

This sunflower should not have grown. I think it missed the memo that it was in a bag of birdseed and was meant to feed a feathered friend...it was lucky enough to fall out of the feeder into a potted plant. I think it missed the memo that all of the other flowers around here bloomed weeks ago...it doesn’t know or care that it’s a “late bloomer.” May we all be as tenacious as this little sunflower seed who didn’t know it wasn’t meant to grow, who didn’t know it wasn’t meant to bloom. I love being inspired by nature, & this under dog story brought a bright grin to my face! 🌻😁 #inspirationiseverywhere #naturelovers #latebloomer #birdseed #sunflower #waxingpoetic #mondaymotivation #blackandwhite #macrophotography #🌻 #beinspired #growthmindset https://www.instagram.com/p/B2N6aD2Hc6f/?igshid=1smkmyqy2fisi

[sheillustrates]

No photos, they said. So I sat and drew while others read and the twinkling keys beneath deft musicians hands drifted through the shelves and leaves. And in the strokes and words and songs, those moments carried together along the created, the creating, the old yet every time new—of a touch *beyond* now bridged into our own stories too. (All made even better, accompanied by the resident cat’s purrs.)

I had hoped to squeeze in one more museum my last night in Paris, with ticket all paid, but the atmosphere in this bookstore held me captive. As I started sketching, it was one of those moments when you knew you had to linger; to leave would be a regret. And then the piano started playing, and the above magic happened, and I was so thankful to have stayed. https://www.instagram.com/p/CXMP-PEOMft/?utm_medium=tumblr

[womenscraftbeer]

Pucker up butter cup, sucker better have my Tupperware. Y’all should know me well enough, sucker better have my Tupperware. Please don’t call me on my bluff, pay me what you owe me. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Waxing Poetic. Berliner Weisse with Passion Fruit by @triplecrossing Thanks to my friends @craftcouple 🧡 #poetrychallenge #berlinerweisse #passionfruit #waxingpoetic #badpoetry 〰️ 〰️ 〰️ 〰️ 〰️ 〰️ #wishyouwerebeer #beersnob #beernerd #beerlover #craftnotcrap #craftbeergirl #craftbeer #sdbeer #cheers #girlsbeerclub #beerandwomen #instabeer #drinkcraft #drinklocal #beerporn #beer #sandiego #ilovebeer #womenofthecraft #womenintobeer #womeninthebeerindustry #womenbrewers #beerme #earnyourbeer (at Carlsbad, California)

[marasmanifesto]

It’s pretty obvious, right? Perhaps. . . . . . . #waxingpoetic #poem #prose #poetry #poetsofig #writersofig #happyfriday #lovefree #marasmanifesto

[fwacata]

The ideas that run through you at times, I swear. #doodle #thinking #waxingpoetic #shutupstupid (at The Goblins Heist) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-xnt9rB0hQ/?igshid=1ogikfqcfv3tb

[onedaywretiawritesblr]

Love Sincerely, Muse - Brave (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/PxlyUHx904 "Let's write a story. Let's put down some words in a chronological order which can be used to portray a feeling or a mood or that can relay a story. And let's make it emotional. Let's make it raw and irrational and devastating. Let's see to it that it can tear the heart from the body, yet keep it beating. Let's replace souls with heartbreak and tragedy and despair." 

Dear Reader, 

Unrequited love, tumultuous storms of anxiety, and desperate pleas for reprieve are the masterpieces of a rambling artist and her toiling muse. She's seventeen, depressed, and thankful for all of her troubles. These are the pieces of a shoddy heart. Don't take them all at once and don't believe everything you see. 

Love sincerely, Muse 

(new pieces twice a week)

[thetruckburns]

Me gusta, en serio, cuando a la #cerveza le da por citar un #Poema. #WaxingPoetic #RalphSteadman #DoubleIPA #DoubleDog #TGIF https://www.instagram.com/p/B3w2f2vg4Mc/?igshid=tg7m3fxp0d0i

[cleverwombatmoon]

The air is crisp and the leaves crunch when you step on them. I take a deep breath, hold it in.... and slowly let it go. #fall #goldenleaves #mothernature #mywalk #changeofseason #waxingpoetic https://www.instagram.com/p/B3cEhYYhVZM/?igshid=j15kk7woidcx

[anniesglobalboutique]

So good I had to share! Check out all the items I'm loving on @Poshmarkapp #poshmark #fashion #style #shopmycloset #waxingpoetic #arcopedico #armaniexchange: https://posh.mk/vbjVK5pT2U

[margiesmustreads-blog]

I love Arm Candy 🥰🥰🥰 #ArmCandy #WaxingPoetic #AlexAndAni #JamesAvery #Read #BookCharms #Bookish #MargiesMustReads #BookishCharms https://www.instagram.com/p/BuE3AFnA8nS/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=qzektaya0cct

[charcharbaroody]

Aren’t we all a little mad? #rmdrake #reverereport #reverestyle #writer #blogger #stylist #editor #belleepoque #derniercri #poetryinmotion #waxingpoetic #ilikepudding

[marasmanifesto]

No regrets. You’ll see. ❤️❤️❤️ * * * * * * #noregrets #haiku #lovenotes #lovepoems #waxingpoetic #love #live #free #lovelanguage #poems #poetry #poetsofinstagram #writer #writersofinstagram #blogger #baepractice #marasmanifesto

[bethaustin757]

Waxing Poetics at the 2018 Veer Music Awards. #2018veermusicawards #waxingpoetics #concertphotography #livemusicphotography #rocknroll #norfolk #watersidedistrict #bethshoots . com #htbarp (at Waterside District)