GEORGE JUNIUS STINNEY JR: WHEN JUSTICE FAILED, A 14 YEAR OLD BOY WAS ILLEGALLY EXECUTED

“George Junius Stinney Jr., we find you guilty on the charge of first degree murder and you are sentenced to death. You shall ‘be electrocuted, until your body be dead in accordance with law. And may God have mercy on your soul.’”  The judge read the judgment to the accused.

On the 16^th day of June 1944, Stinney, a 14 year old boy was removed from his cell by the prison officer; he placed his bible under his armpits, and walked slowly with tears running down his cheeks as he was escorted to the execution chamber to meet his death.

At the electrocution chamber, Stinney was placed on the electric seat where many have met their death, and today was his date. He was so small to fit and so short for the electrode head piece apparatus to be placed on his head, so they took the bible under his armpits, placed it on the seat to act as a booster. Then they strained his legs, arms and body on the electric chair. He was asked if he had last words to say and His father moved closer to listen but Stinney couldn’t talk he just shook his head and his small legs, though strained, daggled as if trembling with fear.  The prisoner officer covered his face with a large death mask and walked backwards placing his back on the wall and faced the accused. 

After a few seconds, he signaled a person who was on the other side of a glassed wall and the executioner flipped the lethal 2400V electric switch, the lights in the room dimmed and brightened momentary, maybe to allow the angel of death do his job. Stinney body convulsed as electricity pumped into his body, two more jolts of electricity were
added totaling to about 5,300V. The death mask covering his body flipped off his face exposing his burning scalp, his eyes were wide open, tears running down his cheeks and saliva foam around his mouth and saliva dripping to his chest.

Three Minutes and 45 seconds later the switch was flipped off. The execution chamber was filled with smoke and reeked with burnt flesh. The body of Stinney sat on the chair lifeless. The prison physician approached the body, placed the stethoscope on the left side of his chest and declared Stinney as dead. “Justice” had been served.

In 2014, about 60 years after the execution, the blood of Stinney still continued to cry for justice from the grave and the court would pass a judgment that “a violation of the Defendant procedural due process rights tainted his prosecution … and that the courts [had] failed in a capital case to discharge their proper functions with due regard to the constitutional safeguards in the administration of justice. Based on the forgoing I hereby vacate the defendant’s conviction” the judgment read. In short, George Junius Stinney Jr was ILLEGALLY EXECUTED!

What had led to the overturning of this illegal execution was that, in 2004, a historian, George Frierson would come across a newspaper article on this case and did a research on it. Some Lawyers got an interest on his research. They filed a motion for a new trial and a petition for writ of Coram Nobis in 2013, because they knew “there wasn’t any reason to convict the child and this is an injustice that needs to be righted” and this is an “opportunity to make a difference and correct a wrong that’s been there for 70 years” and that the “the conviction was based on numerous and serious errors and omissions denying Stinney fundamental due process.”

Stinney had been accused of the Murder of two girls, Betty June Binnaker, 11 yrs and Mary Emma Thames, 7 years. The two  girls had passed around their property looking for Maypop Flowers and had asked Stinney and his sister  where they could find some of the flowers and they told them they did not know.  The bodies of the two girls would later be found in a ditch with head injuries.

The police would arrest George Stinney on the suspicion of the murder based on the account that he was the last person to have had information on them and took him to custody.  He stayed in custody for about 81 days. He was not allowed to see his parents until his trial and conviction and had no support from anyone during the whole trial process. In custody the police interrogated him alone without his parents or a lawyer. The police would later give evidence in court that the boy had confessed yet no confession statement signed by Stinney would be produced in court and Stinney would later say that the arresting police “starved him and then bribed him with food” and due to fear, exhaustion, hunger and intimidation he relinquished his innocence and gave a confession.

During the trial, the Court appointed a defense counsel for Stinney, who was a tax commissioner campaigning for election to a local office. And due to the popularity of the incidence and trial, may have just taken the case to gain him popularity and influence more votes from the locals.

During the Proceedings, the defense counsel did not challenge the production of the police offices confession statement as evidence or cross-examine them, which was the only evidence they had against Stinney. There was no other evidence whatsoever linking Stinney to the murder. On the accusation that Stinney might have attempted to rape them before or after murdering them, the medical report indicated there were no indications of sexual assault and both girl’s hymen were intact.

Stinney defense counsel on the other hand did not call any witness or even the sister who had been with Stinney  on the said day and would give an alibi evidence, he did not bring in the doubt of how practical and logical a 14 year old of only 5.1 feet(1.6M) and 95 pound(43Kg) would overpower and  murder a 11 year old and 7 year old girl and carry them to a ditch because there  was no sign that the bodies were dragged to the ditch and even if he had carried the bodies, due to the bloody nature of the murder,  then blood or any physical evidence would have been left on him. But the defense attorney offered no defense.

Stinney who was a black American was convicted to death by an all-white jury within 10 minutes of discussion. The court did not hesitate to give the Judgment. On his conviction the defense counsel did not even bother to file for an appeal and request for stay of execution.  Therefore, Stinney was executed.

George Stinney case is an illustration of what happens when the whole system of justice fails. When the community uses Race to determine who is a suspect. When the police arrest anyone without compelling evidence, subject the arrested person to psychological torture and denying him right to counsel or guidance, obtaining a confession through duress, torture and deception. When the prosecution is more interested in obtaining a verdict of guilt other than guiding the court to reach a legally and fact supported judgment. When the defense lawyer undertakes his works for selfish purpose of publicity and totally dereliction of duty to ensure evidence and the legal process is followed and the rights entitled to the accused have been followed. When the jury does not represent a fair cross section of the community and unable to speak the truth and give an impartial verdict and base their judgment on racial basis. When a judge does not guide the jury on the legal aspects and ensure the matter has been proved beyond reasonable doubt, when the judge does not appreciate the uniqueness of a case and weight and balance the offense and punishment and ends up giving a punishment that is unproportional to the offence. And ‘innocent Blood’ was shed on an electric chair to warn future generations of the dangers of having a broken down system of justice.

Around the world, many people languish in jail because of a broken down system. This is a system all of us are in or can find themselves in as a suspect, public, Police, Defense counsel,  prosecutor or judge and we all have a duty to play to ensure no innocent person goes to jail. As members of the public let’s view each other as humans; Issues such as wealth, race or religion should not be used to single out a suspect. As Police let’s do our job, ensure everyone arrested enjoys his right and law is followed. As prosecutor as much as the demand to proof the case beyond reasonable doubt is on us lets bear the burden with integrity and fairness not just to aim at reaching a conviction of Guilty. As defense counsel do your job, the law and evidence presented should be followed and the rights of an arrested person jealously protected. The question of “what if a guilty person is released because of your brilliant defense?” should be converted to “is justice being delivered after the law and evidence has been followed?” for the judge the scale of justice should always balance.

This case may have happened thousands of kilometers away but in one way or another it part of the humanity history and as Martin Luther would say while at Birmingham jail that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”  And this case gives us an opportunity to learn from history and  to correct an injustice where possible and to look our current status and see if there is any eminent threat to justice in any form in our system and to look forward with a constant reminder of the dangers of having a biased system of governance.

(Photos credited to:Global Exchange, Findagrave.com, Washington Post, Movie:83 Days)

LUCIUS QUINCTIUS CINCINNATUS: THE FATHER OF CIVIL VIRTUE

Photo: britannica.com
Cincinnatus being informed of his appointment as a Dictator

 The Year is 456 BCE, the first and the youngest republic on earth; The Roman Republic, was under attack from their neighbors, The Aequi. The Roman Army sent to defend and stop the invading army had been trapped and held under siege by the enemy and if something was not done with speed, the invading army would match to the city of Rome and cause havoc.

The Roman law required that in times of extreme emergency, they would appoint a Dictator, with unlimited, total and absolute authority to make quick decision and protect the Republic for at least six months. But there was also a deep fear on this provision; what if the appointed dictator after defending the republic and would exploit this excessive power bestowed upon  him to make himself King and descend the young republic back to a monarch system? Who could be trusted with such great power? As Rome was full of power hungry individuals? And as Lord Acton would say that, “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men…” what Lord Acton meant was that people may be of great virtue and character, but when given power they reveal their vices and demons and for sure “if you want to test a man’s character, give him power” said Abraham Lincoln

Regardless of this eminent and potential danger of appointing a Dictator, the Senate appointed Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus as their dictator because “in him were the courage and resolution equal to the majestic authority of the office.” Cincinnatus was a retired Senator and was having financial difficulties since he had spent most of his wealth to bail out his son from potential prosecution and the son was now in exile. A delegation was sent to inform him of his appointment and they found him plowing his humble farm.

On being informed of this appointment he immediately left his plow lying in the field, donned his senatorial toga, rushed to the city, made a proclamation to suspend all public and private business and requested all men of military age to present themselves fully armed and ready for battle.

Once the Army was ready, although the Romans were expected to lose, he moved with swift and led it to a victorious battle against the Aequi at the Battle of Mount Algidus. He won the heart and loyalty of the army he was leading and when the news reached the Rome City, people were happy and gained glory and dignity. Cincinnatus was welcomed back to the city with a Great  Triumph, the roman people urged him to maintain his power and remain permanently as their dictator.

Everything was in favor of Cincinnatus to remain and maintain power, the army and the public were on his side, he would use his power to bring his son out of exile and even acquire more wealth and come out of his financial hardship. This was a life time opportunity for Cincinnatus.

In the midst of all these advantages and opportunities to acquire more power and wealth for himself and hence solve his many personal problems, Cincinnatus immediately after the Celebration of the Victorious Battle and 16 days (even before the 6 month period was over) after being appointed a Dictator he relinquished his power back to the Republic  and went back to his farm and lived a silent life.

He would later be appointed Dictator again to lead an army; he did the same again and returned to his farm.

He always served his Republic with great skill and efficiency; he would lead an army to victory, return stability in Rome and out of duty and loyalty relinquished his position as dictator and return back to his farm.

His actions demonstrated what civil virtue is all about. A  Loyal citizen must place the matters of the state over his own interest. Cincinnatus actions of leaving his plough lying on the farm during a sowing season on being informed of his appointment and duty and not minding the danger of subjecting his family to starvation if farming was not complete in good time as the crop would be ruined dur to the prolonged absence, and relinquishing his power before time, in order to end dictatorship and return the City back to a republic, forgoing riches, shows his caring more for the good of the republic than his personal advantages and prestige and financial benefit.

Sure, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” but Cincinnatus is evidence that character and virtue can dictate how power can be channeled for the benefit of all, so power does not really corrupt people it just reveals who they really are.

Cincinnatus actions would act as a model of virtue to other great leaders. More than 2000 years later, George Washington, would lead America to Independence from the British. George Washington was offered to be King of the new Independent America and establish a monarch but he strongly preferred the New Country to be a Republic and served as the First President.  Washington stepped down to allow another Person to take over the Presidency. Having In mind at the time there was no Presidential Power Limit but he still relinquished his power as the President earning him the name as the American Cincinnatus. Washington life and action was greatly influenced by Cincinnatus having being the President of the Society of Cincinnati.

Photo:Flicr Depicting George Washington,
 with a plough behind him, like the statue of Cincinnatus

George Washington action to step down created a custom of peaceful transfer of power and two-term limit of Four years each in the USA. More than 240 years later after the first presidency the customs still exist to date.  Constitutional mechanisms such as Checks and Balances, equal but separate arms of the government were latter developed to ensure no one person or arm has absolute power and this Mechanisms are found in almost all constitutions and republics in the world.

In Africa people like Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, relinquished their powers, releasing “the reins of power so that the office may evolve with public interest” but in some countries in as much as there are presidential power limits the people in power find means to either amend or maneuver the same and remain in power.

Photo:britannica.com
Statue of Cincinnatus

Civil Virtue is the ability to lay down your personal interest for the greater good of the public. Civil Virtue should find space in everyone’s life regardless of how small or big the position is. It is ability of a class prefect to list all noise makers and not favoring any because of friendship, is the ability of not receiving or giving money to corrupt your way to any position, it is the ability of voting in for the right leaders not based on nepotism, tribalism or amount of bribe given, it is the ability to sell quality and safe products disregarding the quick profit margins because of doing otherwise, It is continuously doing the right thing placing public interest over self-interest. We should all act with civil virtue in all our actions.

Cincinnatus portrayed virtues such as “modesty, leadership, selfless service, lack of personal ambition, humility and dedication to public service” and even when “granted great power and accepted it, he only kept it as long as necessary to serve his country.” He is a model of Civil Virtue. And who knows maybe Republics would never exist if it was not to his action.

PLATO CAVE ALLEGORY: DO YOUR DUTY

If Evolution theory is a fact, then maybe as man was rushing out of the cave to finally land on the moon, he might have moved so fast that he left his brain lagging behind trying to catch up with him. In short, our technological advancement does not reflect our social advancement, as Isaac Asimov puts it “the saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom." We have gained so much information that can direct us to the truth but we have lacked capacity to apply it in our lives.

Plato in his allegory of the Men in the cave illustrates this. In this allegory, four men sit in a cave; they are chained in such a way that they can only face and gaze at the wall and nothing else. Behind them, is a flame emitting light and between the flame and the chained men there is a platform where people walk through carrying some object. When people walk on this platform, due to the light of the flame, the shadows of the object they carry are cast on the wall the chained men are looking at.

When the chained men see the shadows, they engage in an act of naming every shadow that passes before them. They even award each other to the one who names the most shadows. To them the shadows are real objects, the shadows are their reality.

One day, one of the chained men becomes free and his chain fall off from him and is able to get out of the cave. He discovers that the shadows are not real but manufactured reality; that the shadows are just a blurred image of the real objects. He discovers all that he deemed to be true all his life (since he knew no other life) was a shadow. He gets out of the cave and sees the sun, the source of natural light, the brightness of the sun hurts his eyes as they are not used to so much light after being in a cave for so long. Finally he is able to see clearly and see the real things as they are.

He then decides to go back to the cave to free the other prisoners so that they can also see the light. But the chained men protest, they refuse to believe him, they consider him a fool, crazy and they laugh at him and even conspire to kill him.

A quote wrongly attributed to Harriet Tubman an American who escaped slavery and made immense effort to help other people escape from slavery says "I freed a thousand slaves; I could have freed a thousand more if only they know they are slaves". No man is a monopoly of wisdom and in one way or another we are in a cave of some sort and we may not be aware of our own ignorance. To get out of the cave we must accept our own ignorance. We may have accepted something as facts and they have survived without questioning, things regarding our view of  justice, democracy, economy, Culture, religion, money, education, fame, love etc. and have viewed their shadow as the reality due to how they have been projected to us by various entities. And when we are told the truth we never bother or we get annoyed and yet it is the truth.

But the good news is that, in one way or another, all of us have come out of the cave in a given aspect of life. Our uniqueness, our individual world view are our information out of the norm and we have a duty to share this knowledge and subjected it to debate and its validity tested. For years people believed the earth was the center of the solar system saying otherwise was considered blasphemous. It took courage of a handful of people like Nicolas Copernicus to break this chain of thought, it took the stubbornness of people like Martin Luther to question the necessity of the sale and purchase of the prayer of indulgence which was a misuse of the moral authority of the church, it took the persistence of people like William Wilberforce to question the justness of slavery, it took to steadfastness of people like Wangari Mathaii to safeguard every single tree.

In modern times entities like the media, government, education religion, culture and others have tended to project shadows to our mind and chain people's minds to make them view things in a particular way. This is normally called "Brainwashing". They have vilified the truth. Telling the truth is seen as a rebellious and revolutionary act worth punishment for disturbing the status quo. People like Socrates were sentenced to death in the process on questioning and telling the truth as far as they understood it. In Modern times Things are seen from the lens of competition to get richer or more fame or to satisfy greed by all means including destruction of the environment, selling food and consumable products laced with poison, causing violence and instabilities to accumulate power, stepping on other people to get ahead and seeing people as pawns. Majority of this selfish agendas have led to squandering of opportunities making them scare, living mediocre and meaningless lives and nobody realizes how much more can be realized outside this cave of shadows, greed, delusion and illusion.

we all start from the cave, but we must not stay there, as Thomas Paine says "it is the duty of every man as far as his ability extends to detect and expose delusion and error" and to question and punch holes to any assumption made so that a glimmer of light may shine on them and cast them out with truth. We are all in pursuit of truth. It’s our duty to break out of the cave, get out of our comfort zones, own up our ignorance, discover new and unique solutions to solve our problem and we shall have made one giant step for humanity. We must cause trouble today so that our children will live under truth and justice, for fear is always a creation of ignorance and delusion. "To the captives, get out! To those in darkness, be free"(Isa 49:9, NIV)

PART III - MAN: AN ARCHIVE OF THE FUTURE

Humanity can choose the other road, the road less traveled and we shall tell with sight of the great difference it shall make.  This road will lead humanity to place where it shall place its portrait on the hall of fame as the Sapiens that engraved the gene of character, justice and truth on every descendant who shall live on earth.  

The present Sapiens shall be remembered as being aware of their individual responsibility to choose prosperity for their descendants;  As the Sapiens that made choices, though small they acted as the small hinges that open the great doors of our history and ushered in future generation.

The choices we make daily either give the future a chance or destroy it. We can make a choice of upholding the highest level of humanity by protecting our environment to give future generation a chance.

 Failure to take care of environment is a crime that future generation should prosecute us. With each environmental distraction, we endanger their lives and consequently  they will never know how fresh air smells like, how clear and fresh drinking water tastes like, how a beautiful green nature looks like. Our destructive choices are making the world a huge “ Nazi Extermination Camp” where we facilitate and guarantee the death of future generations.

We need a change of heart and change of mind. We can uphold values of Justice. Justice is the cornerstone in every undertaking. Every society from days of old have always found ways to come together to achieve justice by setting laws to take them there. Pursuit for justice has been the inherent nature of humanity. People have consistently acknowledged that they are intertwined together by the thread of Justice. Every society from days of old to present have always endeavor to have justice.

When People join together and continuously seek the face of justice in every endeavor and turn away from any other means, then the world will know justice. And together we will cloth the destiny of humanity in a strong fabric of justice that even the gates of Hades will not tear through it. Things like environmental protection, greed, self-interest will fall at the face of justice. Injustice is when people think solemnly of themselves and disregard the duties the own to others. In law it is figuratively stated that “my right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins” that our right to do whatever we want on this planet ends at the moment we begin destroying life of our future generation.

At every cross road we can always use our moral compass and the needle will firmly point the path of truth and justice.

On this path of justice and truth we shall inaptly spur each other and our children to this values and set foot steps to guide future humanity. And humanity shall continuously draw near to this future with assurance of reaping a harvest in due time if we do not give up on this values.

Society is made up of individuals and if each individual makes the right choice then the society is right. That is why your own resolution to stand for truth and justice today is more important than any other thing.

Therefore, since each of us has the future within his grasp lets hold firmly on making just and truthful choices in our every individual undertaking. Each day sets before us two choices; life and death, prosperity and destruction may you walk the road less traveled and your descendants will pick up the pace to live and have life and life in full without fear of anything.

PART II - MAN: AN ARCHIVE OF THE FUTURE

A look into the future, unlike the past, where we have a route to follow as we saw on our past blog: Man: An archive of History, the future is uncertain, unpredictable and nobody really knows how things will turn out, but one thing remains constant that the future is determined by choices we make now. The choice can only have one out of the possible two outcomes of between good and bad, life or death, prosperity or destruction, right or wrong, evil or righteous.

Of course, choices are determined by many factors such as; environmental, culture, historical period we live in and to determine the outcome of a choice, a choice should be looked through these lenses. That  explains,  why currently we scoff at the superstitions and irrational choices that most people held in the 15^th century, but in their time their choice was considered a truthful and rational choice and in the same way, future generations of the 45^th century will scoff at the choices of the current 21^st century because the factors that affect our choice continuously changes with the advances man makes in various aspects. And therefore the “truth” of today may be the false of 300 years from now.

Humanity will always find itself on a road diverting into two, and they will have to make a choice because they can only travel on one.

From history men have traveled

the road that is short sighted and selfish to meet a temporary moment of happiness. Issues of greed, societal indifference and individual callousness are deeply rooted in our human imperfections and these elements can be traced in our moral underpinning.

For instance, man since creation has continuously modified and invented weapons of mass destruction from weapon of stones to sophisticated weapons such as the atomic bombs. Man has made the world a great battle field and has engaged in world wars. Our scientific progress has been pushed with intention to improve, modify and invent weapons of mass destruction. Look at any technological instruments, like computers, mobile phones, cameras, landing on the moon and you realized they advanced quickly due to their connection to some military activity, with the intention to be ahead of an “enemy”. That may explains why in most countries military budgets are almost the highest.  With this giant steps of technological progress we have directed droned and missiles to pin point accuracy to cause havoc, chaos and destruction to distant lands but we have been unable to make accurate choices to lead humanity to even one step to the future.

Countries are living in inactive wars in the name of peace and yet seated on a nuclear time bomb that can erupt on just pressing of a button by a “leader” who just wants to feed his  ego and with the slightest provocation he will press the red button to show case his military super power.

Humans in this century are engaged in environmental massacre. We torture Mother Nature to fulfill our greed and selfish needs. ‘We sink mine shafts into her and drag out her entrails… all for a jewel to wear on petty finery’. We clear a whole forest just to manufacture a piece of paper and empty gallons of toxic substances into our water bodies. Now Mother Nature has begun to retaliate. Natural disasters are becoming so common; Hurricanes, heat waves, floods, earthquakes, landslides, water crisis, mudslides, Tsunamis and the list goes on. If this continues humanity has already placed its neck on the guillotine and the razor shall fall. We have repudiated from our duty to use and utilize the knowledge we have to live together with Mother Nature, therefore we shall all perish like fools.

Due to our continuous destructive environmental activities, maybe billions of years from now humans will be extinct. New intelligent specie will evolve or maybe aliens from far galaxies will visit our planet and they will place our fossils and skeletons alongside those of dinosaurs. The aliens will wonder what happened to the human species that whipped the whole population from the surface of the world.  They will speculate that we died of starvation but the reality was that we never took care of mother nature and it destroyed us , they will say we got extinct because of a massive comet strike that hit the planet, but the truth will be , we developed weapons of mass destruction that killed all humans, they will even develop theories that our specie evolved to another specie, but the truth  is we as human race just raced to outdo each other  with materialistic gains and in the process we killed and slaughter each other to extinction.

PART I - MAN: AN ARCHIVE OF THE FUTURE

by Todd William

Consider this for a moment, suppose you have two children (your 1^st Generation), who grow up to maturity and each of this children sires two children (your 2^nd generation) making you have a total of four descendants, this children again sire two children (your 3^rd generation) making you have a total of eight children. If this pattern continuous up to the thirty third(33^rd) generation you shall have a total of over 8.5 billion living children all originating from you directly. This means your descendants shall be more than the current world population which is currently about 8 billion. (See the complete calculation to the 33^rd generation on the image)

This clearly shows that within you lies that future of humanity. That if this world had only have you and your spouse, within 33 generation you will have populated the world back to its current population.

Now that you know in the next 33 generations you shall have descendants similar to the current world population, what does that mean to you?  What duties and responsibilities does that bestow on you?

You see, if you have an idea of an ideal world you want to see maybe your own “utopia”, let’s say a honest world. You can just teach your children honesty, and they will teach their children honesty as they say “train a child on way to go and when he grows old he will not depart from it” and in the 33^rd generation the world will see a population full of honest people. What if you teach your children greed, then vice versa is true.  Now, you see how changing the world is not that complicated.

 What we do now, how we do it, how we think, what we believe was influenced by our ancestors millions of years ago. So, what we do today will influence future generation millions of years from now.

SWORD OF DAMOCLES: THE COST OF POWER AND RICHES

Sometimes we admire the powerful and the rich and we wish we were them. 

A story is told of a man who lived year 360 B.C, called Damocles who told his king, Dionysius, that the King was truly fortunate as a great man of power and authority,wealth and riches, Fame and popularity, surrounded by magnificence. In response, King Dionysius offered to switch places with Damocles for one day so that Damocles could taste that very fortune of being firsthand. Damocles quickly and eagerly accepted the king's proposal. Damocles sat down in the king's throne surrounded by every luxury, but King Dionysius, who had made many enemies during his reign, arranged that a huge sword should hang above the throne, held at the handle of the sword only by a single hair of a horse's tail. When Damocles was seated at the throne he saw the sword handing above his head. The sword evoked the sense of what it is like to be king: though having much fortune, always having to watch in fear and anxiety against dangers that might try to overtake him. Damocles finally begged the king that he be allowed to depart because he no longer wanted to be so fortunate, realizing that with great fortune and power comes also great danger.

Years Later Cicero, one of the great Philosophers used the story to convey the sense of constant fear in which a person with great power may live. He concluded by asking "Does not King Dionysius seem to have made it sufficiently clear that there can be nothing happy for the person over whom some fear always looms?"

Now, Take a look at some of the most powerful, rich, and famous people in the world. Ignore the trappings of their success and what they’re able to buy. Look instead at what they’re forced to trade in return—look at what success has cost them. Mostly? Freedom. Their work demands they wear a suit. Their success depends on attending certain parties, kissing up to people they don’t like. It will require—inevitably—realizing they are unable to say what they actually think. Worse, it demands that they become a different type of person or do bad things. Sure, it might pay well—but they haven’t truly examined the transaction. As Seneca put it, “Slavery resides under marble and gold.” Too many successful people are prisoners in jails of their own making. Is that what you want? Is that what you’re working hard toward? Let’s hope not.

There is nothing evil with being rich but "what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul", his own capacity to be a free man just because of riches maybe acquire through crude means and now you always live in constant fear that someone will come after you for vengeance. They have to forfeit their privacy and walk with security allover or maybe have sleepless night worried if they can keep their wealth for long

Be rich, be wealthy, be powerful but not at the expense of your freedom and peace.

Extracts from:Daily stoic- Ryan Holiday, Wikipedia, Bible, Photo from: Allposters.com

POWER OF ONE: SHAKING THE SYSTEM IN AN UNLIKELY WAY

Photo by:Clarence Earl Gideon Changing Legal History,Youtube

Around the world, in various jails, innocent people are suffering for crimes they did not commit. Majority of this people did not have a lawyer to represent them in court due to lack of resources.  Having a lawyer to handle a matter for an accused person in court is almost considered a luxury only accessible to the very rich yet it is a necessity to anyone who has to face an accuser in court especially in an adversarial system where a judgment is made depending on the evidence disclosed before the court. The accuser/complainant is normally represented by a prosecutor who is a qualified lawyer employed and remunerated by the government. The prosecutor will argue the case against the accused. The accused on the other hand, if he has the resources will hire a lawyer who will represent him. If he is poor he will have to represent himself.

This poor accused person will have to put up a defense against this competent prosecutor, and in some cases the accused maybe uneducated. The accused may not understand the law of evidence and the legalese terms, inadmissibility of hearsay, incompetent evidence, may lack skill and knowledge to emphasize his innocence and in worst case scenario may not understand the charges and penalties leveled against him. In some instances, the intimidation nature of court may cause the accused to be anxious and confused and chances to get a fair trial are nil. So by the end of the day it is a legal battle between Goliath and David and in this case Goliath often gets his vengeance.

Charge, tried and condemned to a 5 year jail term for a crime he did not commit Mr. Earl Gideon was outraged. As he sat in the jail he thought of his next move. He had just received a reply from Florida Supreme court denying him an appeal he had made arguing that he did not receive proper legal representation. He had tried all means to get justice. During the trial he had begged the judge to appoint an attorney to represent him since he was too poor to afford one, but the court had rejected his plea. He represented himself to the best of his ability, and after all his effort, here he was in jail.

He decided this time he will petition the United States Supreme Court for his appeal. He sat down, took a pencil and paper and made use of the Prison Library and wrote a letter to the Supreme Court. The letter reached the Supreme Court, in the midst of the so many letters the Supreme Court receives per day, his crude petition was read and the court found merit in his plea.

The Supreme Court appointed an attorney to represent Gideon’s petition before it and days letter the Court gave a determination that “…the assistance of counsel… is essential for a fair trial and due process of law regardless of the circumstance… and Equality of justice in courts should never depend on a person’s wealth or lack of resources.”

This judgment was a system shaker; it caused a disturbance in the judicial system which would have gone on undisturbed if Gideon had not taken the effort to write the petition. Due to this judgment more than 2,000 individuals who were jailed without proper representation were freed from jail. This 2,000 people would be just a statistics of innocent people suffering in jail if it was not for Gideon’s action.

In Gideon’s case, a retrial was ordered. This time an appointed attorney was appointed at government expense. The retrial took about Five months; he was found innocent and acquitted. He walked out of jail a free man and joined a world that had changed completely due to his actions.

Through this case, equality before the law was extended to require parties before a judge to be equally represented; an accused with no resources was entitled to have a guiding hand and access to counsel at every step of the legal proceeding.

The noble idea of equality before the law should not be pegged on the ground of who is endowed by resources. Everyone regardless of his economic circumstances ought to enjoy this guaranteed right. Lack of representation can be considered as offensive to the common and fundamental ideals of fairness. We have to embrace equal representation as a fundamental principle of liberty and justice which lie at the base of all our civil and political institutions.

A person may ask a profound question. What if criminals get proper representation and fail to face justice yet they indeed committed the offence?  In the words of John Adams, the answer may be that “We are to look upon it as more beneficial, that many guilty persons should escape unpunished, than one innocent person should suffer. The reason is, because it’s of more importance to community, that innocence should be protected, than it is, that guilt should be punished; for guilt and crimes are so frequent in the world, that all of them cannot be punished; and many times they happen in such a manner, that it is not of much consequence to the public, whether they are punished or not. But when innocence itself, is brought to the bar and condemned, especially to die, the subject will exclaim, it is immaterial to me, whether I behave well or ill; for virtue itself, is no security. And if such a sentiment as this, should take place in the mind of the subject, there would be an end to all security what so ever.” In addition, the more parties are properly represented the better judgments the courts will deliver and value of justice will be valued in the society.

The Gideon’s case also led to the establishment of the Office of Public Defenders. The Public Defenders were lawyers who were to defend people unable to afford an advocate. This Idea of Public Defender, has developed in almost every country in the world and in some countries it has been incorporated in the constitution that a person must be represented by counsel when appearing before a judge. This has changed the face of justice in many corners of the world.

The actions Of Gideon show that courageous efforts done by a person hungry for justice in one corner of the world have a direct impact in another part of the world. In the words of Robert F. Kennedy he said “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

So, in any unjust position you find yourself or you see others in may you be proactive and shake the system and create your ripples and together with ripples from another corner they will bring down the walls of injustice and humanity will leap forward and forge a new path.

DRESS UP, SHOW UP AND BE PROUD

Twenty years ago, I was at a party, talking to a guy whose name I have long since forgotten, or maybe never even knew. Sometimes I think this man came into my life for the sole purpose of telling me this story, which has delighted and inspired me ever since.

The story this guy told me was about his younger brother, who was trying to be an artist. The guy was deeply admiring of his brother’s efforts, and he told me an illustrative anecdote about how brave and creative and trusting his little brother was. For the purposes of this story, which I shall now recount here, let’s call the little brother “Little Brother.”

Little Brother, an aspiring painter, saved up all his money and went to France, to surround himself with beauty and inspiration. He lived on the cheap, painted every day, visited museums, traveled to picturesque locations, bravely spoke to everyone he met, and showed his work to anyone who would look at it. One afternoon, Little Brother struck up a conversation in a café with a group of charming young people, who turned out to be some species of fancy aristocrats. The charming young aristocrats took a liking to Little Brother and invited him to a party that weekend in a castle in the Loire Valley. They promised Little Brother that this was going to be the most fabulous party of the year. It would be attended by the rich, by the famous, and by several crowned heads of Europe. Best of all, it was to be a masquerade ball, where nobody skimped on the costumes. It was not to be missed. Dress up, they said, and join us!

Excited, Little Brother worked all week on a costume that he was certain would be a showstopper. He scoured Paris for materials and held back neither on the details nor the audacity of his creation. Then he rented a car and drove to the castle, three hours from Paris. He changed into his costume in the car and ascended the castle steps. He gave his name to the butler, who found him on the guest list and politely welcomed him in. Little Brother entered the ballroom, head held high.

Upon which he immediately realized his mistake.

This was indeed a costume party—his new friends had not misled him there—but he had missed one detail in translation: This was a themed costume party. The theme was “a medieval court.”

And Little Brother was dressed as a lobster.

All around him, the wealthiest and most beautiful people of Europe were attired in gilded finery and elaborate period gowns, draped in heirloom jewels, sparkling with elegance as they waltzed to a fine orchestra. Little Brother, on the other hand, was wearing a red leotard, red tights, red ballet slippers, and giant red foam claws. Also, his face was painted red. This is the part of the story where I must tell you that Little Brother was over six feet tall and quite skinny—but with the long waving antennae on his head, he appeared even taller. He was also, of course, the only American in the room.

He stood at the top of the steps for one long, ghastly moment. He almost ran away in shame. Running away in shame seemed like the most dignified response to the situation.

But he didn’t run. Somehow, he found his resolve. He’d come this far, after all. He’d worked tremendously hard to make this costume, and he was proud of it. He took a deep breath and walked onto the dance floor.

He reported later that it was only his experience as an aspiring artist that gave him the courage and the license to be so vulnerable and absurd. Something in life had already taught him to just put it out there, whatever “it” is. That costume was what he had made, after all, so that’s what he was bringing to the party. It was the best he had. It was all he had. So he decided to trust in himself, to trust in his costume, to trust in the circumstances.

As he moved into the crowd of aristocrats, a silence fell. The dancing stopped. The orchestra stuttered to a stop. The other guests gathered around Little Brother. Finally, someone asked him what on earth he was.

Little Brother bowed deeply and announced, “I am the court lobster.”

Then: laughter.

Not ridicule—just joy. They loved him. They loved his sweetness, his weirdness, his giant red claws, his skinny ass in his bright spandex tights. He was the trickster among them, and so he made the party. Little Brother even ended up dancing that night with the Queen of Belgium.

This is how you must do it, people.

I have never created anything in my life that did not make me feel, at some point or another, like I was the guy who just walked into a fancy ball wearing a homemade lobster costume. But you must stubbornly walk into that room, regardless, and you must hold your head high. You made it; you get to put it out there. Never apologize for it, never explain it away, never be ashamed of it. You did your best with what you knew, and you worked with what you had, in the time that you were given. You were invited, and you showed up, and you simply cannot do more than that.

They might throw you out—but then again, they might not

(The story is an extract from the book Big Magic, Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert, River Head Books, New York, 2015)

POWER OF ONE: IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE, STOP!

Watching humans engaging in violent, cruel and bloody acts and even butchering each other was a sight of entertainments a few centuries ago. Violent actions were normal in human life. Arenas and amphitheaters such as the Coliseum in the Roman Empire were built to make such violence available to the large blood thirsty crowds that always showed up. Actually it was considered a type of a sport –Yes, humans killing each other was a sport!

This continued until about the year 390 A.D when a Monk named Telemachus visited the Roman Empire. As Telemachus was walking in the streets of Rome he followed a crowd that led him to one of the Arenas where there was a gladiatorial contest.

The Arena was full to capacity the spectators were eager to quench their thirst for violence. Some had placed their bets on which gladiator would win and ready to go home with a jackpot home. The gladiators at the center of the Arena were welding crude weapons ready to slaughter each other to death. The bell to start the slaughter went off. No sooner had the gladiators launched violence against each other than Telemachus squeezed himself through the crowd, into the arena and stood between the two gladiators and shouted,

“In the name of God, stop! In the name of God Stop! In the name of God, Stop!”

A few seconds of silence passed as people came to terms to what the old man was trying to do. Finally, the interruption on the awaited violence was unbearable, the crowd wanted to see violence! The crowed became angry and begun throwing stones to the monk. Stones came from all sides of the arena like heat seeking missiles, Telemachus could not escape and he finally fell down with a thud as he breathed his last breath. He died.

Years later, Emperor Honorius was informed of this act and was moved by the action of Telemachus. The Emperor banned this impious spectacle and it ceased to exist and humanity was saved from the love of violence and life obtained an added premium on its value. Up to date, maybe due to what happened on that day, in that Arena, almost all constitutions all over the world, International Conventions and treaties, statutes and almost all legal documents have safeguarded the right to life and depriving someone life is considered a grievous offence with hefty penalty.

In our lives today we have many things that are considered normal and maybe entertaining. Things like poverty manifesting itself in form of  beggars and street families on the streets, Sick people lying on the streets trying to appeal to the mercy of the public to help them pay their medical bills, corruption, injustice,people dying of hunger and many others are maybe normal in our daily life. We may join the public on the comfort of the benches around the arena and complain about their nuisance, maybe cheer the authority for punishing them. Or maybe we may squeeze ourselves out of the crowd and stand in the middle of the arena and shout. Maybe, in the midst of;

 Poverty we shout; In the name of Justice, stop!

Corruption: In the name of truth and integrity, stop!

Selfishness and individualism: in the name of service, stop!

Cowardice and fear: in the name of courage, stop!

War: in the name of peace, stop!

When you have shouted these words, maybe people will agree with you and cheer you up or they may join in to make your voice even loudest. Your action may inspire a paradigm shift in the mental set up of society and society will never be the same again due to your actions. Maybe history will remember you like Telemachus who became saint, St. Telemachus. Or maybe your actions will go unrecognized but for sure you will have made a curve on the human progress linage; A curve that will set humans free from the chains of violence, greed, war, injustice.

Also, when you have shouted these words, your actions may cause an interruption, it may be considered against the grain and people may see you as a nuisance and you maybe stoned to death. When your dead life will move on as usual and your action will be forgotten for ever and ever. Or maybe someone may whisper it to someone and it will inspire a change at some point many years after you have gone.

As Abraham Lincoln said that we should “do our duty as we understand it.”  Everyone should take a stand on what his conscience says is right. And when everyone has done his share of duty the right duty will always prevail. And since the great doors of history turn on small hinges we may be the small hinges that will open the doors of humanity to a brighter future.

You see, the day St. Telemachus stood on the arena he not only stood to preserve the lives of the two gladiators, but he stood to save the whole of humanity from love of savagery, terror and violence. The day you will stand, you may be alone but you will save humanity.

I will end with the quote of Robert F. Kennedy, when he said “… the danger of futility: the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills-against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence. Yet many of the world's greatest movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant Reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and the thirty-two-year-old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal”

So, today what will you shout: In the name of [insert it], Stop!!