a response to MagsJ "I am" thread

a Genie will grant you some powers, what will it be?

This is a question of goals… what is your goal? what are the things
we pursue? there are clearly many possibilities we can pursue or make
our goal?

Aristotle said, Human pursue knowledge… but knowledge for what?
once again, we need context to make sense of a goal or destination…
knowledge just to have knowledge? why that is a rare thing indeed…
most people want that knowledge to achieve or reach something…
knowledge is not an end, but a means to an end…

and we can list just some of the possibilities that we might pursue…
happiness, love, wealth, power, titles, wisdom, fame, material goods… just
to name a few…now in addition to these rather obvious possibilities, we
have some more subtle possibilities…one might ask for freedom… but again,
we need context… freedom from or freedom to? one might ask for immortality…
(I hold this might be the single worse request in the world… to live forever,
yikes, I can’t think of a worse fate ever for a human being)

so what we are presented with is choices… but how do we know which choice is
the right/best choice? how do we conduct a cost per benefit ratio of our choices?
for every choice has its cost… there is no such thing as a free lunch…
and with our choices, we can show our humanity…

and that is what this is about, what would/should we choice if we are
human? think about it… animals can only choose within their biological needs,
any choices made by animals involves their needs of food, water, shelter, sleep…
the basic needs… but we humans, we can make a choice that doesn’t reflect
our basic biological needs… food, water, sleep, shelter, education, health care…

seeking wisdom or knowledge or love or happiness… isn’t about meeting our biological
needs…we are not limited by our biological selves or our needs in making choices…
we can make a choice that lies outside of our biological needs…and in making my own
choice from a Genie, I would ask for justice, which is equality for all…a legal vision
of equality for everyone…although I must admit in asking for justice, I too may be
implicated in acts of being unjust and I am willing to hold myself accountable for these
acts…

the search for justice is a search in which everyone is treated equally by all
forces at hand… so we are treated equally by the law, by congress, by the court
system, by the government and by each other…that I am treated no differently
by the law as anyone else…but in Modern America, because of my looks and my
age and other factors, I am treated differently… I am white and a senior citizen…
I am treated differently by the police then would a young black man… I haven’t
been pulled over in years… and I mean years…I think maybe in 2005, maybe…

so given this choice, by a Genie, would pick justice for all…

Kropotkin