Season Change...autumn is here
What a week! And, no wonder - it is Autumn, or Fall already. And it started with 'a bang'! For one, this was the week of the execution in Georgia of a very popular (no pun intended) black man, with whom I had grown close to, not in friendship-like ways, but I followed his life, news about him, I prayed for his case in front of the justice system (the 'law'), I exchanged e-mails with his sister (sporadically), etc., etc.
I have had a 3-4 inch round lapel button of his photo and a motto that circles his face which reads "Justice for Troy Davis...Fight for Change!" That face has been staring at me from my inbox for several years. I have wanted to have it present; don't know for what reason. Maybe there's a part of me in common with Troy: in the call for justice...in the call for 'fight for change'?
So no wonder when this week, in the twitter world, the hashtag "#IAmTroyDavis" filled the screens of my computer at home, at work and on the iPhone! I started using it to align within the sector of society that was actively engaged in the Twitter conversation about Troy, his cause, his suffering, that of others with similar wounds, that of civic and nonprofits leaders, defenders of human rights, journalists, etc. Someway, somehow, we, 'we' had something in common; we were 'united' in more than a strife. In ways that will over time 'peel off' into clarity of awareness. I know there is 'a lot there'. Humanity, maybe?
This week, cries for justice, for authorities to be clement, to release Troy - given so much uncertainty in his case, were crushed, denied, rejected, unheeded. The 'voice' of so many here in my town, in my state of Georgia, in the Nation, and throughout the world, was just set aside. Troy was put to death. That was 20 years of waiting...4 times sent to the death chamber...this last time the stall was 4 hours 08 till his body - and life - expired: 11:08 PM Sep 21, 2011.
That same night, another man was executed in Texas: a white supremacist who had mercilessly dragged a black man with his truck, along the pavement and roads, till few unrecognizable chunks of his body was what was left.
Two men. 'A-justiced' by society. Their lives taken away (why - in punishment?) for what they were accused of and found guilty of.
Justice was done.
Really? Just?
The thought crossed my mind, fruit of my Catholic upbringing, in which all of us as "the body of Christ" were suffering in seeing the annihilation of a human that night. "That body of Christ" had on each of its sides one death penalty convict. Troy Davis on one side and Lawrence Russell Brewer on the other.
Initially the thought - ahá! Troy was "the good thief!", crossed my mind. Quickly though, that was set aside. What about Lawrence? What if...? "Who" was my mind to adjudicate guilt? (Even though I was passionately judgmental of the 'system', of the Board, of the Supreme Court, of the judge that decided the final case, of the prison system, of the prison guards pushing people around the Jackson "Diagnostic" Center...
That WAS the problem behind all these passions running high! Judgement; indictment of guilt, and thus, punishment.
No. I wasn't going there. Who was crucified that night? The hashtag... #IAmTroyDavis...And what about the possibility of...#IAmLawrenceRussellBrewer.
Who was crucified that night? - I was...we were.
The Northern Hemisphere's autumnal equinox—the first day of fall—will happen at 5:05 a.m. ET, Sep 23, 2011. "Today the hours of daylight equal the hours of night. Historically, our cosmos blog explains, the equinox "was a mile marker for the lived year." NASA says that, for whatever reason, the change of seasons also brings an increase in geomagnetic storms, which we can see in the form of auroras." Check out the link to this reference here.
Hmmmm. And that means...?
I have had a 3-4 inch round lapel button of his photo and a motto that circles his face which reads "Justice for Troy Davis...Fight for Change!" That face has been staring at me from my inbox for several years. I have wanted to have it present; don't know for what reason. Maybe there's a part of me in common with Troy: in the call for justice...in the call for 'fight for change'?
So no wonder when this week, in the twitter world, the hashtag "#IAmTroyDavis" filled the screens of my computer at home, at work and on the iPhone! I started using it to align within the sector of society that was actively engaged in the Twitter conversation about Troy, his cause, his suffering, that of others with similar wounds, that of civic and nonprofits leaders, defenders of human rights, journalists, etc. Someway, somehow, we, 'we' had something in common; we were 'united' in more than a strife. In ways that will over time 'peel off' into clarity of awareness. I know there is 'a lot there'. Humanity, maybe?
This week, cries for justice, for authorities to be clement, to release Troy - given so much uncertainty in his case, were crushed, denied, rejected, unheeded. The 'voice' of so many here in my town, in my state of Georgia, in the Nation, and throughout the world, was just set aside. Troy was put to death. That was 20 years of waiting...4 times sent to the death chamber...this last time the stall was 4 hours 08 till his body - and life - expired: 11:08 PM Sep 21, 2011.
That same night, another man was executed in Texas: a white supremacist who had mercilessly dragged a black man with his truck, along the pavement and roads, till few unrecognizable chunks of his body was what was left.
Two men. 'A-justiced' by society. Their lives taken away (why - in punishment?) for what they were accused of and found guilty of.
Justice was done.
Really? Just?
The thought crossed my mind, fruit of my Catholic upbringing, in which all of us as "the body of Christ" were suffering in seeing the annihilation of a human that night. "That body of Christ" had on each of its sides one death penalty convict. Troy Davis on one side and Lawrence Russell Brewer on the other.
Initially the thought - ahá! Troy was "the good thief!", crossed my mind. Quickly though, that was set aside. What about Lawrence? What if...? "Who" was my mind to adjudicate guilt? (Even though I was passionately judgmental of the 'system', of the Board, of the Supreme Court, of the judge that decided the final case, of the prison system, of the prison guards pushing people around the Jackson "Diagnostic" Center...
That WAS the problem behind all these passions running high! Judgement; indictment of guilt, and thus, punishment.
No. I wasn't going there. Who was crucified that night? The hashtag... #IAmTroyDavis...And what about the possibility of...#IAmLawrenceRussellBrewer.
Who was crucified that night? - I was...we were.
The Northern Hemisphere's autumnal equinox—the first day of fall—will happen at 5:05 a.m. ET, Sep 23, 2011. "Today the hours of daylight equal the hours of night. Historically, our cosmos blog explains, the equinox "was a mile marker for the lived year." NASA says that, for whatever reason, the change of seasons also brings an increase in geomagnetic storms, which we can see in the form of auroras." Check out the link to this reference here.
Hmmmm. And that means...?
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