We read in Isaiah 56:1 "Be just and fair to all, the Lord God says…" which is echoed in Psalm 33:5 in reference to God, "He loves whatever is just and good…." So too in a letter by John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, Adam after having read a copious amount of literature and books states: "for they have made no change in my moral or religious creed, which has, for fifty or sixty years, been contained in four short words, "Be just and good."" From the above it would appear that the complete extent of the wisdom that we need to comprehend and thereby to implement in our lives is to be just and good to our fellow man; but woe to us that have fallen significantly short of this goal, so too for those that do not even attempt to try, and finally worse of all for all those that actively oppose this sound philosophy.
If, on the other hand, more people spent the time to actually think before they acted, planned before they took action, and took into consideration that the world does not and never has revolved around themselves, than this world and societies in general would be far more tolerable and accommodating. The least that we have an obligation to attend to is to keep our own house in order, so as to thereby lead by example, rather than rail at others for their faults. So too, we must keep foremost in our minds, that we must practice what we preach and in order to do so, we must focus in ourselves the very philosophy that we wish to see the world live by.
It is comforting to note, that doing the right thing in life, does not even necessitate a college degree, or a non-dysfunction family background, or a certain religion or complexion, because doing just and doing good is beyond all those things. The fairness and justice that we like to see applied to us, must as a matter of reciprocity, be equally applied by ourselves to others in our everyday interactions. However, so often within our minds and by our behaviors, we display an attitude and take actions that belie fairness and justice, by believing or acting as if we are a bit more special than others and thereby deserve the benefits of that privilege, by receiving extra consideration over somebody or someone else. That is neither fairness nor goodness, but favoritism which is the very thing that we need to relinquish in order to actually be just and fair.
Then again, there are those that make no attempt to be just or good, for whatever reason, never seeming to realize that such a mindset will as its ultimate consequence, result in a boomerang type effect that will set things right. While it is true that devious and selfish actions can reap material benefits, so too it is true that every would-be Napoleon will inevitably meet its Waterloo, as the Grandmaster of it all is both fair and just, and that is why the gate that all will ultimately seek is found to be so narrow and the pathway so straight.
It is one thing to know what is right and then not to do it, and it is an entirely different thing to know what is right and to then perform that in our everyday actions, both big and small. We are gifted with free will and free choice, which allows us all sorts of permutations, but in the end, you need only to adhere to being just and being good and all will be well both within and without.