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!!

HOW TO BE IMMORTAL

We all have an urge to be remembered when we are long dead and gone. Actually, the hidden intention of humans reproducing is to leave a legacy behind them. That legacy is a way of leaving a record that you existed on earth at some point. I

t is a way of writing on the walls of earth "I was here!" using your DNA as the ink. But this ink will fade or be erased because human genes are always mutating and actually if you are to take a DNA test with your ancestors there will be a great variance and maybe nothing to support that you are related.

The only way to leave a timeless Legacy is to do works. Not just Works but divine works.

Divine works are works that are godlike that are immortal and live beyond a given human age. Works that will influence generations thousands of years to come think of people like Pericles, Plato, Socrates, Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth I, Nelson Mandela, Thomas Sankara,  Dedan Kimathi, Wangari Mathai, Emilio Zapata, Sojourn Truth, Mahatma Gandhi, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther etc

We remember these people according to their divine works not according to their reproduction prowess. Their actions contribute to the way we view the world today.

Divine works can take ideological or spiritual angle.

In a letter dated February 24, 1791 by John Wesley to encourage William Wilberforce in his intention to begin protest against slave trade he warned him that, "unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devil's. But if God be for you who can be against you?" Years later,  In 1833 when William Wilberforce was in his deathbed he received the news that House of Commons had passes the Emancipation Bill abolishing slavery & slave trade and slavery in Britain was no more due to his actions.

His actions had ripples in America and all over the world and due to his actions it contributed to the creation of the 1926 Slavery Convention. The Convention is a treaty that abolished slavery in the world and in almost all Constitutions in the world there is a provision preventing slavery and in some jurisdiction it is considered as a right or freedom that cannot be limited. Therefore, William Wilberforce actions have live many years after his death and still continue influencing international decisions.

We may not all be William Wilberforce but we can see his actions had a Spiritual underpinning and he believed he was doing a divine duty. Actually most likely John Wesley in his letter to him he had cited Ps127:1-2 which says "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain...". Unless our actions have a divine element they will be buried with us on our death. The Apostle Paul in his epistle(Acts5:39) he says "But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men…” the main reason God will always win is because He is immortal and If He is immortal His works are Immortal and if he uses you as a Human instrument to undertake this immortal works your identity on this works will for part of it in the immortality of this works.

In the fresco "The creation of Adam” on Sistine Chapel's ceiling Michelangelo  painted a painting showing “God” stretching his finger to Adam. The background of God is a Brain shaped image.  This may mean that God inspires us with his immortal thought on the works we should do on the earth we sit on.

On Ideology, these are ideas that we can develop and document and maybe inspire future generation to actualize them. For instance, Leonardo da Vinci developed thoughts on the possibility of humans having instruments that could make them fly this was during his life time between 1452-1519. Many years later in December 3, 1903, the Wright Brothers flew the first plane in the air. In one way or another idea was inspired by Leonardo. Ideology can be found in all fields, fashion, religion, economic, political etc.

We should chose works that will serve humanity. Future generations may never know our role but during our age we can curve the linage of humanity to a better future. And as Karl Marks in his early wring on selection of a profession he said “If we have chosen the position in life in which we can most of all work for mankind, no burdens can bow us down, because they are sacrifices for the benefit of all; then we shall experience no petty, limited, selfish joy, but our happiness will belong to millions, our deeds will live on quietly but perpetually at work, and over our ashes will be shed the hot tears of noble people.” Therefore, our works will make us immortal.

CHOSE TODAY: LESS TIME ACTION OR TIMELESS ACTION?

Do you know:
*That very respectable geologist "knew" that the world is flat and published volumes of books to support this.
*That doctors used to give Bloodletting as a prescription, in "scientific" belief that losing blood will cause body balance since blood was regarded as "humours" and bleeding will cause the body to balance hence healing.
*That leadership was a divine right passed through linage and to Kings & queens only.
*That the earth was the centre of the universe and saying otherwise you would be blasphemous and you would be burnt at the stake.
*That aluminium was the world rarest and most precious mineral.
*That for years doctors refused to wash their hands when attending to patients and subsequent many patients especially new mothers died due to childbirth fever due to poor hands hygiene and the doctor who urged them to begin this practice of washing their was dismissed from the profession for referring to as "murdering their patients."
*That Aztecs people would cut the abdomen of a human, remove the heart while its beating and hold it towards the sun in order to please it, hence prevent the sun from burning them.(you can imagine how many people were killed due to this practice)
*That cutting a criminal in half (when alive) with a saw in public spaces was a legal punishment given by courts.
*That gender/Skin colour/body size was used as a measure of intelligence....etc

Now, you see this "facts" were considered to be true and unquestionable for many centuries. Today we look at them with horror and laughter and wonder how cruel,foolish and stupid this humans were to hold this "facts" as true. This "facts" had less time in the universal clock and soon had to be abandoned when truth came out.
So, at this age, today, we too hold our own "facts" and many centuries from now, future generation will wonder what on earth we were thinking to hold this "facts". They will wonder what caused us to fight for circular metals and paper with numbers on them, they will wonder how we would spend our whole life on a system driven to just build an economy , they will wonder how stupid we were to cut a whole forest in the name of development and civilisation, they will wonder why we enclosed ourselves in small bordered territories called countries yet earth is just a minute rock floating in space,they will wonder how we would fight over religion based on unseen Superpower Being, they will wonder how billions were spent on military budget and wars yet people died of hunger daily, etc...they will wonder and wonder.

So, in in long run everything will look stupid, cruel and foolish but we have things and actions that have remained constant and timeless and have never been otherwise these are the pursuit of wisdom,Justice, Truth,courage and service. That's why we read of people like Plato, Socrates, Seneca, Hannibal, Aurelius, Pericles and others many centuries after they have died because they pursued the latter and their timeless actions and words are still being consulted to date.

So, why not engage in fact that will live centuries after your long gone. In actions that will contribute to pushing humanity forward, in actions and words that will echo to many generations to come. Then, you will sit in the halls of generations to come as the person who curved the direction of humanity during your age.
Though we are victims of our society and we may hold firmly on ideas and actions that have less time, we can always undertake our duty in the best way we understand it and maybe in the process each will produce a ripples that together they will form a mighty wave that will push the ship of humanity to new lands that upholds timeless ideals and character. And our generation will stand tall on the humanity timeline as people who guided man towards eternal survival.Our actions will echo in their minds of the time of people they ought to be.

Then why do things that will end  with you when you die? why not engage in actions that will push humanity forward; actions that are timeless. This actions will echo  generations if the infinite future. Today and everyday and in every action you have two options either less time action or Timeless Actions.

YOUR LIFE, IS YOUR LAST STAND, STAND FOR SOMETHING

The year is 480BC the Greeks are under an attack and greatly outnumbered by the Persians, which was a superpower at the time. The Greek Army had approximately 7000 men, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and the Persian Empire had over 200,000 men led by Xerxes I. Having the numbers, they knew they would intimidate the Greeks to surrender and in any event, war broke they would have an upper hand and defeat the Greeks. 

The Persian empire sent an emissary to Greek to give them terms of peace which would be to offer them freedom and they would be considered “Friends of the Persian People” and in addition they would be given more land; King Leonidas refused and maybe as Sophocles would say that “whoever makes his way into a tyrants court becomes his slave, although he went there a free man.”  Later a messenger went to one of the Greeks general to boast and maybe frighten him by telling him how large the Persian Army is and if the archers would shot their arrows in the air, their arrows would “block the sun” the general replied, that if the sun is blocked then “they shall have the battle in the shade”. The Persian Empire told them, "lay down your weapons" and surrender and King Leonidas responded by giving the courageous defiant reply that they should "Come and take them". War became inevitable.

This led to the famous Battle of Thermopylae or battle at the Hot Gates. The Battle took three days. In the first two days the Greeks won and just when the Persians were on their way to surrender while Greeks stood strong in their small and cohesive unit the Greeks were betrayed and hence outflanked and defeated. King Leonidas was killed in battle; his body beheads and placed on a spear as warning to other people of Greece. Though Persians won, their victory came at a very high cost as the Greeks had inflicted serious damage on them.

Due to their three (3) day courageous last stand at the Hot Gates, cities in Greek were able to be evacuated and by the time the Persian Army got there, there was practically nothing. Secondly, due to the evacuation of the people in Greek cities, Ideas such as democracy which had just been developed were preserved and today we have democracy due to the courage of the men who fought at the Hot Gates. They acted as watchmen at the gates of democracy.

If you are to visit the ground today where the battle took place there is an Epitaph and engraved on it are the words “ Oh Stranger! Go tell Sparta, in obedience to their law, here we lie in death!” Sure their message was heard, their  actions of courage during overwhelming odds inspired other Battles and in the coming days the Persian Army was defeated

So, why did the Greeks fight knowing it would be a herculean task to defeat Persians? Some historians say it is because they wanted to protect their freedom and autonomy other say were just full of ego and they paid it with their life

Moral of the History:

1. Your actions of courage never go to waste. They echo in future generations in ways you will never know.

2. Know what you can stand for regardless of the circumstances. The Greek, The Spartans, had a Creed that went like this:

"This is my shield. I bear it before me into battle, but it is not mine alone. It protects my brother on my left. It protects my city. I will never let my brother out of its shadow, nor my city out of its shelter. I will die with my shield before me facing the enemy.”

This Creed gave them a meaning that they go to battle for the sake of their brothers and City. So, what are you willing to go to battle and fight for, not for personal gain, but for others.

3. Your actions have consequences. People will judge your results at some point. But do your thing anyway.

(for a drama of this Battle watch the Film:300 Spartans or Read Gates of Fire by Steve Pressfield & Picture from 300 Film)

WHEN THE CHURCH IS WRONG

In 1633 Galileo Galilei was convicted of Heresy for saying in his book-Dialogue of Galileo Galilei, that the earth goes round the sun. The judgment by the Catholic Church which was in reign at the time read in part that Galileo has "rendered himself vehemently suspected ... of having believed and held the doctrine (which is false and contrary to the Holy and Divine Scriptures) that the sun is the center of the world, and that it does not move from east to west, and that the earth does move, and is not the center of the world....We order that by a public edict the book of Dialogues of Galileo Galilei be prohibited, and We condemn thee to the prison". Then, More than 350 years later, after the Catholic Church condemned Galileo, Pope John Paul II rectified this judgment which is considered as "one of the Church's most infamous wrongs -the persecution of the Italian astronomer and physicist for proving the Earth moves around the Sun."

Now, you see for many years people believed in wrong facts and when someone said the truth he was condemned and only vindicated when he had long died. Maybe in this present age we hold some believe that we think to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth but they are wrong. We get angry when the truth is given and even condemned the messenger and call them crazy, yet the craziness of today is the reality of tomorrow. Years from now people will look at this age and wonder how dare we held such wrong facts as truth. So, when you here something crazy, something contrary to what you believe, be patient and reflect this incident before you cast the first stone.
(Photo by history.com)