Reflecting on Ancient Wisdom

Close your eyes and picture a stone stele, nearly four thousand years old, standing in ancient Babylon. On it, carved in cuneiform: the Code of Hammurabi. Two hundred eighty-two laws. An attempt to make justice visible, knowable, public. Before this, justice was arbitrary—whatever the powerful decided in the moment. Hammurabi did something revolutionary: he wrote it down. He made the rules accessible. "So that the strong might not oppress the weak," the prologue declares, "to give justice to the orphan and the widow." Was it perfect? No. The penalties were harsh, often brutal. The code favored the wealthy. But here's what matters: it established that even kings were bound by law. That justice should be predictable, not capricious. That the vulnerable deserved protection written into the social fabric. Now bring this forward. Think about the systems you navigate daily. Are the rules clear, or do they shift depending on who's watching? Who holds power in your workplace, your community? Are they accountable to something beyond their own impulses? Mesopotamia understood something essential: justice isn't natural. It doesn't emerge on its own. It must be built, articulated, defended. Made visible so everyone can see it. Where in your life is justice visible? Where is it hidden?