Reading my property law textbook on aboriginal title moved me to tears. These people have such great strength of spirit and depth of culture. Our skyscrapers only magnify the shame that should be laid on our shoulders. And all around the world, peoples remain bleeding for decades of callous conquests.

Once that you've decided on a killing
First you make a stone of your heart
And if you find that your hands are still willing
Then you can turn a murder into art

There really isn't any need for bloodshed
You just do it with a little more finesse
If you can slip a tablet into someones coffee
Then it avoids an awful lot of mess

Now if you have a taste for this experience
And you're flushed with your very first success
Then you must try a twosome or a threesome
And you'll find your conscience bothers you much less

Because murder is like anything you take to
Its a habit-forming need for more and more
You can bump off every member of your family
And anybody else you find a bore

Now you can join the ranks of the illustrious
In history's great dark hall of fame
All our greatest killers were industrious
At least the ones that we all know by name

But you can reach the top of your profession
If you become the leader of the land
For murder is the sport of the elected
And you dont need to lift a finger of your hand

Because its murder by numbers, one, two, three
Its as easy to learn as your abc
Murder by numbers, one, two, three
Its as easy to learn as your a, b, c, d, e

Murder by Numbers - Sting

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The Constitution is a Living Tree

It's better to own ~ Joel Bennett

Yesterday I had a conversation with a lawyer about the lack of sympathy and empathy.
Today, BBC reports that Canadian police have tasered a polish immigrant to death.

I hope that this serves to remind me, one day, when I am in the concrete jungle of wealth and slave to my desires. That I will look back to a time when I really believed in living for lives beyond mine and for reasons beyond self-gratification. And then I will pack up my bags, leave all this behind and go to where I'm called.

Then I will turn around, and from the jungle in Laos, look you back in the eye, hold out my hand and demand justice.

A society that cannot respect another culture is hardly deserving of respect itself.

It is a journey, to reconcile my identity with a particular political past. How do I say that I belong to all this, when I can only begin to see its face through squinty glares and seething slits?

Hunger only for a taste of justice
Hunger only for a world of truth.
~ Tracy Chapman

I think, in this day of democracy and capitalism, there is more state in church then there is church in state.

Not that they should be merged, or completely severed in our personal lives. But we need to be very very clear of who we are, and where the convictions of our communities lie, our priorities and the signals we send, the roles that we play and the persons that we ultimately are.

I also need to work on articulating my convictions. In word and deed.
First off, are these really convictions?

What would it look like, to completely stop living for myself?