It is better to suffer injustice than to be the wrong side.

Socrates

The great teachers of time points us to the right direction by removing the mist of distractions. This statement from socrates does not aim to value being in either side of justice. Definitely they are both bad and comparing how bad they are is hairsplitting.

What’s interesting here is that justice is difficult to define — even for the great teachers. In fact Socrates probably avoids defining Justice as he goes on challenging the knowledge of similar words (though perhaps Plato attributes the rest of The Republic to elaborating Socrates ideas about it). We do not know what justice is (no its not equality). But I think we know what injustice is (and I don’t think what is not unjust is necessarily just. So the whole statement seems to reduce to:

Don’t be unjust.

Even if others are unjust, remember that it is not good. Taking injustice as an act we will have:

If injustice is floating around, you can be happy its not coming from you.

It does not matter who did it first, or whether it is a counter-response. If it can be avoid, then it is the best policy. Let me quickly add that I do not think this means turning the other cheek as avoiding injustice, rather than facing it is probably a smarter option : )