A strong sense of justice is a trait that is common among many AS people. In my personal case justice is something that I have aimed for all my life.
This situation has produced a great amount of anguish and pain because we live in a world that is largely the antithesis of fairness and justice and I cannot put up with what I see around me. It is not only the outside world that is guilty of this but also some of my own thoughts and actions.
To explain this, I must elaborate and explain that as an AS person, social interactions is an area where I have a deficit; most people will not notice this as I have learned to act ‘normal’, and I have a template that I use in the dreaded social dance.
However, the inflexibility of my mind has made the use of this template not accurate and it is difficult to calibrate, as it is in the black or white setting most of the time.
My social naivety and high level of empathy have landed me in situations where I have been preyed upon by untruthful individuals. My boundaries have been trampled on, I have been hurt, and taken for a ride.
As a consequence of this I have applied a blank rule to all my social relationships so as to keep myself safe; that is, one strike and you are out. This rule has been extremely effective in purging myself of toxic individuals. However, because my struggle in discriminating between apples and pears is enormous, I have made some wrong judgements and harsh decisions that ended a small number of social relationships.
This is an injustice and it causes me great pain, sorrow and shame. So, I found that I greatly need my trusted family circle to help me to untangle facts, and understand the attitudes, intentions, and actions of other people; to learn to be measured, and at the same time assertively uphold my safety strategies where appropriate.
Given what I see around me, and my own shortcomings and failures, I deeply admire people that transcend human weaknesses, people that act justly, people that leave behind their human fear and that under difficult circumstances do what is right.
A person who has done this and whom I admire for this is Professor Stephen Bolsin, the anaesthetist who blew the whistle of failings in paediatrics heart surgery at Bristol Royal infirmary. After this Professor Bolsin was unable to work in the UK and needed to emigrate to Australia where he is a respected professional.
I admire him because he has shown that you can flourish where you are planted. He has shown that you can produce good fruit and he has shown that you can shine a lamp so that everybody can see, even if it burns your hands. In an interview he stated that he admired his parent’s courage, compassion and honesty and I believe that these same attributes adorn his own character. I admire and respect him because his actions have demonstrated that he loves the Truth. Those that do will be blessed and they will be a blessing for others. Professor Bolsin’s brave conduct has followed the Biblical principle that we all are called to follow; this is zedek, zedek, tirdof (justice, justice shall you pursue). (Deuteronomy 16:20).
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