Justice

An exerpt from Plato's The Republic: Polemarchus argues with Socrates that Justice is giving a man his due, Socrates however brings examples to show that that view is inadequate, the argument being that a just man benefits his friend and harms his enemies (giving a man his due)

Socrates: " But must we not then say of a man that if harmed he bcomes worse by the standards of human excellence?"
Polemarchus: "Certainly"
"But is not justice human excellence?"
"It surely must be"
"So men if harmed must become more unjust"
"So it would seem"
"Well, musicians will hardly use their skill to make their pupils unmusical, or riding masters to make their pupils bad horsemen"
"Hardly"
"Then will just men use their justice to make others unjust? or in short, will good men use their goodness to make others bad?"
"That cannot be so"
"For it is not the function of heat to cool things, but of its opposite" (ie. heat to heat things)
"Yes"
"Nor the function of dryness to wet things, but of its opposite"
"True"
" Well then, is it not the function of the good man to do harm but of his opposite."
"Clearly"
"But is not the just man good?"
"Of course"
"Then, Polemarchus,is not the function of the just man to harm either his friends or anyone else, but of his opposite, the unjust man?"
"What you say seems perfectly true, Socrates"
"So it wasn't a wise man who said that justice is to give every man his due, if he meant by it was that the just man should harm his enemies and help his friends. This is simply not true: for as we have seem, it is never right to harm anyone at any time"

Plato, The Republic 355b-355e

I felt this argument was quite long winded but yes- it showed the reason( from a very secular, humanistic view) why a we shouldn't harm anyone- I did not include the arguments leading up to this exerpt but this struck me the most.. justice isn't giving a person what he deserves- it is n inadequate view.. and that a just person should never harm others and benefit all..

"Not enough" were the words of Juliana.. with regards to my marathon training regimen.. "it doesnt cut it" I should never let myself get comfortable.. I need to be pushing myself harder.. I trust her- she represents Singapore for the triathalon.. It hurts.. my knees and ankles do.. Song Ai, Lydia and Sheik Yan all say I'm staring to walk with a limp- I did not notice it.. but I know my feet are sore. Yet.. I can't give up.. "Injury is part and parcel of an athlete's life.." yes I guess that's true... if you're not getting injured at a constant rate, you're not even training at all.. I know something deep inside me wants to finish the race well.. even tho it hurts, it'll pay off someday.. I've augmented my regimen to include a new intensity training slot: 2x 400m sprints + 6x 200m sprints (jog inbetween). And to increase my endurance intervals from 10km/5km
on alternate days to 15/10km on alternate.

I did my intensity training at the track today for the first time- it felt so good yet.. felt totally wasted after that. And I'll have to wake up to a brand new day for my endurance training tomorrow.. eating vegetables and fruits have taken on a new start.. and all seems to be going ok. I just need to learn how to push myself harder and further- there is nothing more imperative than victory, more convincing than success.. I never was born an athlete- it wasn't my natural disposition to be endowed with a lean figure.. but I will never believe that I was just born that way- the power is in me to change myself.. slowly and surely I will get there.