Tatiana N. (SLE) - On lustice and defending “one’s own”

Since childhood I’ve had a heightened sense of justice. It’s about making sure no one is hurt, no one is humiliated. In the courtyard this created its own environment, its own rules. Justice matters to me in everything.

<...> If it was a game in the yard, I was the one who appointed myself as a kind of referee, set the rules, and monitored fairness. For example, I would say, “You’re playing unfairly.” I re-educated everyone in the yard—none of the boys swore. Everyone strictly followed the rules, otherwise I don’t even know what I would have done to them.

<...> If I need to stand up for someone (for myself—maybe that’s one thing—but for someone else), I’ll tear everything down there, figuratively speaking, until they give something back to that person.

<...> There was a case when I stood up for my brother. I climbed onto a huge guy like a monkey—he was seventeen and I was about nine. I literally grabbed onto him, hung off him: “Leave my brother alone!”

Once someone older took a bicycle away from someone younger. I immediately went up to the one who took the bike and took it back. He even showed me a knife, but I wasn’t scared—I was about twelve then. He said, “You’ll get it.” I said, “Get out of here, don’t touch the younger kids, give the bike back.” I wasn’t afraid. Maybe at seventeen, being a girl, I wouldn’t have gone at someone with a knife.