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Close Reading Exercise: "Living Justice"

Do this exercise with the handout "Living Justice." In writing margin notes, see if you can make connections between the reading and the Hallmarks. Do the opinions expressed in this article reflect the Hallmarks in any way?


This section, Colonialism and Economic Development is very important in several ways. First, it highlights the historical context that has set up the global wealth gap, which was mainly the result of European colonization. Second, with this information, it clarifies the difference between charity and social justice. While both charity and social justice are ways of fulfilling moral obligations, charity is like putting a bandaid over a problem, whereas social justice examines the root causes of an issue to prevent it from continuing in the first place and ending it on a population level. As the article mentions, social justice is difficult to do at first because "no individual in isolation has sufficient power to change the large economic and political structures that determine present conditions, the model of change adopted will have to be one of gradual and modest action, with each person pitching in as he or she is able" (102). The first two times I read the handout on Wednesday and then I revisited it today on Friday. It was interesting to see what points I did not catch in the first time, and it was helpful too to use different colors to do so. It also turned out that I ended up bringing out the true main ideas because I annotated the same points over the different times.

One clear reflection of Hallmark #2 was on page 99. The author emphasizes that there has been a longstanding debate on the subject of the historical context of European colonialism and its role in setting up global poverty. The Church suggests that all people should be concerned about world poverty because it is a "scourge on our common humanity" (99). It also believes that "Despite the artificial divisions of people into races, religions, and nations, all are members of a single human family" (99). This idea is nicely summed when the text emphasizes that "we are called to look beyond these artificial divisions to the common humanity and essential unity of all who share the earth" (99). This directly connects to Hallmark #2's message that all human beings are united by having inherent dignity. Calls to justice that are made in the same paragraph also reflect Hallmarks #3 and #4 which emphasize the commitment to community service and promoting of justice in the world. These specific Hallmarks are also reflected in the idea of social responsibility in fixing global wealth inequality that the section disscusses towards the end.

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