原文

人間的正義是在哪里呢？

正義是在我們的心里！從明哲的教訓(xùn)和見聞的意義中，我們不是得著大批的正義么？但白白的擱在心里，誰(shuí)也不去取用，卻至少是可惜的事。兩石白米堆在屋里，總要吃它干凈，兩箱衣服堆在屋里，總要輪流穿換，一大堆正義卻扔在一旁，滿不理會(huì)，我們真大方，真舍得！看來(lái)正義這東西也真賤，竟抵不上白米的一個(gè)尖兒，衣服的一個(gè)扣兒。——爽性用它不著，倒也罷了，誰(shuí)都又裝出一副發(fā)急的樣子，張張皇皇地尋覓著。這個(gè)葫蘆里賣的什么藥？我的聰明的同伴呀，我真想不通了！

我不曾見過(guò)正義的面，只見過(guò)它的彎曲的影兒——在“自我”的唇邊，在“權(quán)威”的面前，在“他人”的背后。

正義可以做幌子，一個(gè)漂亮的幌子，所以誰(shuí)都愿意念著它的名字。“我是正經(jīng)人，我要做正經(jīng)事”，誰(shuí)都向他的同伴這樣隱隱的自詡著。但是除了用以“自詡”之外，正義對(duì)于他還有什么作用呢？他獨(dú)自一個(gè)時(shí)，在生人中間時(shí)，早忘了它的名字，而去創(chuàng)造“自己的正義”了！他所給予正義的，只是讓它的影兒在他的唇邊閃爍一番而已。但是，這畢竟不算十分辜負(fù)正義，比那憑著正義的名字以行罪惡的，還勝一籌。可怕的正是這種假名行惡的人。他嘴里唱著正義的名字，手里卻滿滿地握著罪惡；他將這些罪惡送給社會(huì)，粘上金碧輝煌的正義的簽條送了去。社會(huì)憑著他所唱的名字和所粘的簽條，欣然受了這份禮；就是明知道是罪惡，也還是欣然受了這份禮！易卜生“社會(huì)棟梁”一出戲，就是這種情形。這種人的唇邊，雖更頻繁的閃爍著正義的彎曲的影兒，但是深藏在他們心底的正義，只怕早已霉了，爛了，且將毀滅了。在這些人里，我見不著正義！

在親子之間，師傅學(xué)徒之間，軍官士兵之間，上司屬僚之間，似乎有正義可見了，但是也不然。卑幼大抵順從他們長(zhǎng)上的，長(zhǎng)上要施行正義于他們，他們誠(chéng)然是不“能”違抗的——甚至“父教子死，子不得不死”一類話也說(shuō)出來(lái)了。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)有形的撲鞭和無(wú)形的賞罰在長(zhǎng)上們的背后，怎敢去違抗呢？長(zhǎng)上們憑著威權(quán)的名字施行正義，他們?cè)醺也蛔衲兀康悄闼较聠?wèn)他們，“信么？服么？”他們必?fù)u搖他們的頭，甚至還奮起他們的雙拳呢！這正是因?yàn)殚L(zhǎng)上們不憑著正義的名字而施行正義的緣故了。這種正義只能由長(zhǎng)上行于卑幼，卑幼是不能行于長(zhǎng)上的，所以是偏頗的；這種正義只能施于卑幼，而不能施于他人，所以是破碎的；這種正義受著威權(quán)的鼓弄，有時(shí)不免要擴(kuò)大到它的應(yīng)有的輪廓之外，那時(shí)它又是肥大的。這些仍舊只是正義的彎曲的影兒。不憑著正義的名字而施行正義，我在這等人里，仍舊見不著它！

在沒(méi)有威權(quán)的地方，正義的影兒更彎曲了。名位與金錢的面前，正義只剩淡如水的微痕了。你瞧現(xiàn)在一班大人先生見了所謂督軍等人的勁兒！他們未必愿意如此的，但是一當(dāng)了面，估量著對(duì)手的名位，就不免心里一軟，自然要給他一些面子——于是不知不覺的就敷衍起來(lái)了。至于平常的人，偶然見了所謂名流，也不免要吃一驚，那時(shí)就是心里有一百二十個(gè)不以為然，也只好姑且放下，另做出一番“足恭”的樣子，以表傾慕之誠(chéng)。所以一班達(dá)官通人，差不多是正義的化外之民，他們所做的都是合于正義的，乃至他們所做的就是正義了！——在他們實(shí)在無(wú)所謂正義與否了。呀！這樣，正義豈不已經(jīng)滄亡了？卻又不然。須知我只說(shuō)“面前”是無(wú)正義的，“背后”的正義卻幸而還保留著。社會(huì)的維持，大部分或者就靠著這背后的正義罷。但是背后的正義，力量究竟是有限的，因?yàn)楦糸_一層，不由的就單弱了。一個(gè)為富不仁的人，背后雖然免不了人們的指謫，面前卻只有恭敬。一個(gè)華服翩翩的人，犯了違警律，就是警察也要讓他五分。這就是我們的正義了！我們的正義百分之九十九是在背后的，而在極親近的人間，有時(shí)連這個(gè)背后的正義也沒(méi)有！因?yàn)樘H近了，什么也可以原諒了，什么也可以馬虎了，正義就任怎么彎曲也可以了。背后的正義只有存生疏的人們間。生疏的人們間，沒(méi)有什么密切的關(guān)系，自然可以用上正義這個(gè)幌子。至于一定要到背后才叫出正義來(lái)，那全是為了情面的緣故。情面的根柢大概也是一種同情，一種廉價(jià)的同情。現(xiàn)在的人們只喜歡廉價(jià)的東西，在正義與情面兩者中，就盡先取了情面，而將正義放在背后。在極親近的人間，情面的優(yōu)先權(quán)到了最大限度，正義就幾乎等于零，就是在背后也沒(méi)有了。背后的正義雖也有相當(dāng)?shù)牧α浚潜绕鹈媲暗恼x就大大的不同，啟發(fā)與戒懼的功能都如攙了水的薄薄的牛乳似的——于是仍舊只算是一個(gè)彎曲的影兒。在這些人里，我更見不著正義！

人間的正義究竟是在哪里呢？滿藏在我們心里！為什么不取出來(lái)呢？它沒(méi)有優(yōu)先權(quán)！在我們心里，第一個(gè)尖兒是自私，其余就是威權(quán)，勢(shì)力，親疏，情面，等等；等到這些角色——演畢，才輪得到我們可憐的正義。你想，時(shí)候已經(jīng)晚了，它還有出臺(tái)的機(jī)會(huì)么？沒(méi)有！所以你要正義出臺(tái)，你就得排除一切，讓它做第一個(gè)尖兒。你得憑著它自己的名字叫它出臺(tái)。你還得抖擻精神，準(zhǔn)備一副好身手，因?yàn)樗浅醭雠_(tái)的角兒，搗亂的人必多，你得準(zhǔn)備著打——不打不成相識(shí)呀！打得站住了腳攜住了手，那時(shí)我們就能從容的瞻仰正義的面目了。

英譯

Where can we see human justice?

Justice lives in our hearts! From the philosophical lessons and valuable experiences, we know that it.s a must for us to uphold justice. But if we just put justice in our hearts and don.t put it in place, it will be a real shame.If two dan(≈118. 4 kg) of white rice are stacked in the house, we.ll manage to eat them up; two cases of clothes are piled in the house, we.ll try to wear them alternately. However, faced with a tissue of justice, we should ignore and throw it away. How generous we are! In our view, justice is so cheap that it is worth even less than the tip of rice or a button on clothes. It.s fine, if we don.t need it. But there are some people, pretending to be worried and anxious, and trying to search for it. What.s wrong with them? My smart friends, I.m really confused, can you tell me the reason?

I have never seen justice itself, only saw its crooked shadow: slipping through the lips of ourselves, floating in front of authority and forces as well as hiding behind others.back.

Justice can be used as camouflage, and it.s a nice camouflage. Everyone is ready to flaunt himself to his fellows under the guise of justice,“I.m a decent man, and I.ll get down to real business.”Besides praising himself, justice means nothing for him. When he is alone or among strangers, he will throw justice behind and create his own justice. What he returns to justice is that he allows its shadow to flicker besides his lips. Compared with the person who steals the name of justice and serves the devil, he doesn.t disappoint justice so much. The most horrible person is the one who does evil in the guise of justice. Full of sins in his mouth, he holds sins in both hands. After attaching gilded justice label to sins, he sends them to society. Even though knowing his tricks, society still accepts his gift with pleasure because of the name he sings for and the label he pastes. The drama Pillars of Society written by Norwegian dramatist Ibsen presents such a scene. People who like him though always sing for justice, the justice hidden deeply inside their hearts must have already mildewed, festered and been ruined.In them, I can.t see justice.

I thought I could see justice between parents and children, masters and apprentices, officers and soldiers and superiors and subordinates; but I was wrong. Mostly subordinates are obedient to their superiors, and if the superiors exact justice on them, they couldn.t defy their orders. There is a saying in Chinese,“if a father wants his son to die, then he will”. They would not dare defy their superiors.command, because visible bullwhip and invisible punishment are awaiting them. They would not dare disobey their superiors.orders because their superiors hold justice. But if you ask them in private,“Do you really believe in and submit to your superiors?”They will definitely shake their heads, even lift their fists to express their defiance. That.s because the superiors don.t exact justice in the name of justice. This kind of justice can only be carried out by superiors while subordinates have no such rights, so it.s not fair.It.s not righteous either, because it can only be exacted on subordinates. Tampered by authorities, sometimes justice will inevitably go beyond the scope of its rights. What is mentioned above is still the crooked shadow of justice. Superiors don.t exact justice in the name of justice, so I can.t see justice in them either.

Where there.s no authority, the shadow of justice turns more crooked. In front of fame, position and money, it has only a shallow microscratch left. Nowadays decent people tend to cringe before officials. They may not be willing to behave like this, but once they meet, weighing up the opponent.s fame and position and unavoidably lacking confidence in their hearts, naturally they.ll pay more attention to him and unknowingly fawn on them. When ordinary people meet celebrities, they will be overwhelmed by the unexpected favor; though in hearts they don.t care, they still pretend to be overly humble in order to express their sincerity and admiration. In this way, officers and scholars are almost unenlightened by justice, and at last what they do are always considered just. However, for them justice means nothing. You may question if justice has already been ruined? Well, not exactly. There is no justice in the light, but luckily justice in hiding still remains. And social maintenance almost relies on the justice in hiding; however, since it takes effect indirectly, the strength of justice in hiding is limited. For an unscrupulous rich person, people always impugn him behind his back but still compliment him on his presence. If a well-dressed man breaks the law, the police will treat him differently. This is our justice; ninety-nine percent of it is hidden at the back. What.s worse, among very close people, even the justice in hiding doesn.t exist. Whatever they have done, we will forgive them, that.s to say, justice here can be bent in any way. Justice in hiding can only survive between strangers, because we will never worry about our relationship with strangers. In order to save face, we don.t mention justice.s name unless we talk about it secretly. Saving face may be a kind of sympathy, and it is cheap. Nowadays people prefer cheap items, so between justice and feelings, they pick up feelings first and put justice next. Among extremely close people, the priority of feelings reaches its maximum while justice nearly equals to null. Though justice in hiding also has considerable power, it is definitely different with the justice in the light; its effect is just like the thin milk that has been watered down, so justice here is still a crooked shadow. I still can.t see justice among these people.

Where can we find justice in the world? It hides in our hearts. Why don.t we take it out? Because it has no priority. In our hearts, the first one is selfishness, then authority, power, affinities, feelings, etc. After all roles having finished their play, it.s the turn of our poor justice. It is so late, and you may ask if there is an opportunity for justice to appear on the stage. No, maybe there isn.t! So if you.d like to see its show, you must sweep away all obstacles and make it the first. And you must call it out by its name. As it is a new protagonist, there will be a crow of trouble-makers. You must prepare a strong figure, gather your spirits, and be ready to fight against. Gradually, we make a lot of friends and have our own position. At that time, we can watch justice.s show at leisure.