A just society is an open society where individuals have choices within a contract of democratic law defining responsibilities and limitations between individuals, community and state.
A just society is, therefore, inescapably fraught with ambiguity. As uncomfortable as that fact may be, ambiguity is the other profile of choice. It has been said that maturity for the individual is the ability to live with ambiguity. The just society rests on our ability to live with ambiguity, with the knowledge that little is clear cut, that life most difficult situations are unclear, that mankind most profound aspirations have costs as well as benefits, and that absolute good and absolute evil do not exist.
In sum, the just society rests on our embracing and defending freedom of choice. Choice widens visions of humanity; choice requires thought, commitment, risk and the agony of uncertainty. The absence of choice simply requires obedience.
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