The etymology of righteousness is condition or state (riht) and bounteous (wiis).
The common understanding of righteousness keeps us bound to what we know is right and justifiable; the purpose of the ego. The guidance of right and wrong results in judgment and it is when we judge that we are held off from love and truth.
Righteousness, therefore, is being aligned with the source of all good, being aligned with God.
Innocent children have not yet lost this connection since their sense of right and wrong, their ego has not yet developed. They have no fear, no judgment, they are in a bounteous state for their soul is free and uninhibited.
