Chicago, 1976
The 15-year-old boy was tall for his age, very dark, and rather skinny. Wearing a cheap, ill-fitting suit that only emphasized his gangly frame, he stood in the courtroom facing Judge Joseph Gary’s bench. His court-appointed public defender, Robert Klein, of the law firm Fielden, Neebe and Scwab, stood beside him.
The judge spoke, “Mr. Klein, your client is accused of armed robbery at Giordano’s Pizzeria downtown. How do you plead?”
“Guilty, your honor,” replied Mr. Klein, “but with a request for a commuted sentence.”
“On what grounds?” demanded Judge Gary. “He shot Leo Spizzirri right in the leg. Leo dropped a five gallon container of tomato sauce. It splashed all over the red checkered tablecloths. They were cleaning that stuff up for weeks. Leo’s still walking with a limp.”
“Your honor, this is my client’s first offense. And he’s had some mitigating circumstances,” continued Mr. Klein, smoothly.
The judge sighed, “Let’s hear ‘em.”
Clearing his throat, Klein began his impassioned defense. “Just look at this kid’s skin, your honor. It’s black, but not really black. His mother was white and his father was a foreigner, born somewhere in Africa. Not only that, his father left him. And then his mother married some Indian guy or something, and dragged this poor kid to another godforsaken foreign country. And he suffered there, your honor. He was poor. To top it all off, his mother left him to live with his white grandparents. What must that have been like, for a black kid to live with two old, white people? He could never belong. What kind of a mother would do that?”
Mr. Klein looked at Judge Gary pleadingly and continued, “Your honor, my client didn’t have his mother’s love, and hardly knew his father. He’s a half-breed. A mutt, really. He doesn’t know where he fits in society. He has low self-esteem because his parents abandoned him. No wonder he committed a crime. It was a cry for help. This kid needs our assistance, not our prisons.”
After Klein’s defense, Judge Gary had tears in his eyes. Even Leo Spizzirri, despite himself, was moved. He sat in his courtroom seat, shifting his bad leg uncomfortably.
The judge looked at the defendant silently for a moment, thinking.
Finally he spoke directly to him, “Okay, kid, I’m gonna give you a break, because I see something in you. You get a second chance and I hope you use it wisely.”
He banged his gavel down. “Sentence for Barack Hussein Obama commuted. Court adjourned.”
———————-
Obama was smiling his megawatt smile as he left the courtroom. He couldn’t believe his paid-for-by-the city attorney had managed to pull this off. He thought he was a goner, for sure. But that ‘victim’ act had worked great. Though that bothered him on some levels he couldn’t figure out, he’d remember that in future. Just in case.
Since he was just shy of his 16th birthday, he was still a minor, so the court set him up to live as a foster child. They found a family for him in Marin City, California, which was one of the most exclusive areas on the west coast of the country. He got an upscale education at Tamalpais High School, taking many poetry and literature classes. He had teachers who cared about him and nurtured his talents, which he discovered, were in the area of writing lyrics and performing. His musical abilities eventually led to him being signed with an up-and-coming rap group.
Despite this success, he still felt like an ‘outsider,’ still felt cheated. Instead of reveling in his talents and his good fortune at being placed with the Shakur family, he resented everything about himself and his upbringing. He changed his name from Barack to Tupac, and performed onstage as Tupac Shakur. He made his first album, the lyrics of which were aimed at the problems facing young black males, but it was publicly criticized for its graphic language and images of violence by and against law enforcement.
Though he’d never actually lived the ‘ghetto life,’ he embraced the lifestyle of the real underprivileged and uneducated. He had himself tattooed with street gang symbols. He got in trouble with the law, sometimes severely, but always managed, as he had that first time back in Chicago, to find a white, liberal lawyer who felt sorry for him, and pleaded his case in court as “a victim of society.”
In fact, Tupac glamorized victimhood to the point that many of his worshipful, young male fans, who’d been truly forced by circumstances of birth to grow up in the ghettoes, began to believe poverty, violence, and criminality was the preferred existence to which they should aspire. Not only that, but since Tupac had moved from Chicago to the west, it’s believed that he may well have been one of the defining forces in the so-called “East Coast –West Coast” rivalry that still exists in the hip-hop industry today.
(Fans insist that it wasn’t that Tupac didn’t like the extra sunshine and healthier lifestyle that he was able to enjoy in his new home in California, it was just that he never got over the fact that he had to leave behind that really fabulous Chicago pizza.)
Shakur made album after album, with names like Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. and Thug Life: Volume I. He became enormously popular, so much the dangerous, yet dashing face of the outlaw, that he dated Madonna, as every man who is famous in this sort of fashion eventually does. She is reported to have wanted to bear his child. (And that part’s not a joke.)
Not even 25 years old, Tupac sank deeper and deeper into a life of too much fast money, too many drugs, and crime after crime. He was surrounded and encouraged by an entourage of men and women who wanted that same exclusivity that he did, and were willing to sell their souls as hangers-on or sex-objects to be near it.
And always, always, he maintained that his race and his circumstances of birth should excuse him for his desires and activities. He went to prison several times on charges from sexual assault to manslaughter, always insisting on his innocence, always managing to get through, and always remaining the most successful rap artist of all time. Shakur is the only artist ever to have an album at number one on Billboard 200 while serving a prison sentence. The album stayed at the top of the charts for five weeks, selling 240,000 copies in its first week, setting a record for highest first week sales for a solo male rap artist at the time.
His bad habits eventually caught up with him, however.
On the night of September 7, 1996, Shakur attended the Mike Tyson – Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. After leaving the match, one of his associates spotted 21- year-old Orlando “Baby Lane” Nelson, a member of the Southside Crips in the MGM Grand lobby, and informed Shakur. Shakur then attacked Anderson, with his entourage assisting. The fight was captured on the hotel’s video camera. A few weeks earlier, Anderson and a group of Crips had robbed a member of Shakur’s entourage in a shoe store, precipitating Shakur’s attack.
After the brawl, Shakur went to meet up with some friends, riding as a passenger in a black sedan. At approximately 11:15 p.m., a white, four-door, late-model Cadillac, with an unknown number of occupants pulled up to the sedan’s right side, rolled down one of the windows, and rapidly fired at Shakur. He was struck by four rounds, with bullets hitting him in the chest, the pelvis, and his right hand and thigh. One of the rounds apparently ricocheted into Shakur’s right lung.
While in Critical Care Unit on the afternoon of September 13, 1996, Shakur died of internal bleeding; doctors attempted to revive him but could not impede his hemorrhaging. The official cause of death was noted as respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest in connection with multiple gunshot wounds.
Shakur’s body was cremated. Some of his ashes were later mixed with marijuana and smoked by members of his band.
Throughout all his misspent life, not anyone could deny that Shakur was full of talent and intelligence. He remains one of the best-loved artists, and sales of his records continue posthumously. We will all always wonder, especially his lawyers who defended him, and others who emulated him, what his life achievements could have been.
If only he hadn’t had the misfortune to be born Black.
Yup. Life is what you make it.
It's interesting, isn't it, what we use as excuses to stay the way we are or, inversely, the impetus to change.How it could have been, had Tupac not carried the rage and anger. Or how it might have been if Barack had not grown wise.And how much we can learn from this.
Most humans tend to blame others or circumstances for their misfortunes. It takes extraordinary wisdom to realize, that past a certain point, it is what we make of it. Most people get there with age, but a few arrive in that place earlier. Shakur might have changed given time. Lucy
I love how you wove the two stories together. Intriguing and wise…
This made me think. So I went and studied a few pages of lyrics to try and make sense of it, and can only conclude that this is the life and death he wanted. The story might have been very different were it not for the matter of choice.
It interests me that some people that have a white parent and a black parent – always describe themselves as "black" – why not "white" – equal parts right?. (And believe me I hate the terms to describe people as black or white, to me they are just people).
Also I believe personality has alot to do with circumstance.
Don't you dare doubt it for a minute. It was the pizza.
I grew up in a rather crappy childhood, but you don't see me shooting people or stealing, as uch as some days I would like to. Take responsibility for your own lives. Just because you may have had a crappy childhood, we, all of the rest of us, are not to blame. Deal with it, heal from it and reach your true potential.
I've always felt, in this country anyway, and several others where there is the ability to move upward, that many circumstances which are considered misfortune or good fortune, are simply a matter of perception.
Thanks for stopping by, Ginger
I find that interesting, too. I assume it is because the features are more dominent. But I agree with you that people are people. Thats'w hay I hate to say "Black" or "White" too. I usually say "black-skin" and "white skin" because that's all it is – skin covering…
"Also I believe personality has alot to do with circumstance."
What did you mean with the above, Just Me?
very good satire
I don't know if I'd call this satire… it's and interesting education on the life of Tupac, but satire points out the absurdity of how things are, this is more about celebrating the joy of overcoming stereotypes and adversity. It's presented as an alternate history, so I'd call it that. Marvel comics did a line of "What If"'s a while ago, this is just as good.
If you check the first few links, up to and including 'Leo Spizzirri' (who really does work at Giordano's ) you will see why I call it a 'satire.' I also have to identify it some way as tongue-in-cheek, because so many people get offended by stuff I write here.
A little more interesting trivia. Tupac was taught by the same high school English teacher as one of my sons was. She had to be one of the best teachers I'd ever ocme across, too.
Thanks for your comment and for stopping by, Queen.
Thanks, Lucy. I think what I'm trying to say is that when we see people as victims, we diminish them and if they revel in the role, they diminish themselves. BTW-you had commented about the banner earlier and it is by Thalia Took. She is an extraordinary artist, isn't she?
This is really thought-provoking. America certainly may have had a different view of Obama if he hadn't risen to his current role. It's kind of eerie, actually.
just wow…
Thank you. Amberfire. It's always nice when you stop by…
LOL. I agree it just had to be the pizza.
When I wrote this, I was thinking more about what a disservice we do to people when we "feel sorry" for them. It implies a reverse snobbery- it signifies that we still think we are better than they are. And this is what that mentality breeds- people who grow up expecting that the same rules don;t apply to them, because they are some sort of 'tragic heroes.'
Thank you, and thanks for stopping by, CC.
"…that this is the life and death he wanted"
I think you're right. Thaks for stopping by, Doug.
True. Or , he could have had a different view of himself…..Thanks for your comment, Ellie.
Thank you, Dai. Thank you for stopping by.
Here in Britain we are fast developing the same gang culture in our cities that exists in US cities and it isn't good at all. We've managed to create a whole generation of kids who believe they are 'victims of society'. They think that it's unfair that there are people out there who have money, great cars and decent possessions without stopping to think that the reason these people have these things is that they've worked hard to get them. It's a generation that wants everything now, this minute, instead of somewhere down the line when you can afford them. There are inequalities in society, in a perfect world there wouldn't be but this isn't a perfect world and until we learn how to get the message across to kids in underpriviledged areas that they can get access to the same paths that exist for middle class kids (albeit with a bit of help) then gangs will continue to exist. As long as kids believe that the only way to get respect and money is to hang out with a gang and carry a gun then nothing much can move forward.
HAHAHAHA!!! People get offended by you?! That's hilarious. You're like sweetness wrapped in a bow and given to a lonely orphan. If people get offended by that then they need to do some serious self-evaluation. My experience is that unless you're directing something deliberately critical at them a person will only be offended when their horizons are being expanded. So I say you should feel sorry for them, not kowtow to their insecurities.
Ummm actually I think it's satire of a very high order. It made me laugh my ass off, though I suspect you have to be a little less than lilly-white pure to see it that way.
Hahahaah Thanks for this. Hilarious for all the right reasons. Very, very clever. I may not have developed my reflexes quite as much if I had used my brain along these lines. I may have to study your way (Do in Japanese) for when I am old and slower. You know in case my back-up plan to be ornery and strap a shotgun to my rocking chair somehow goes bad…
Stupid people offend easily. And Einstein commented about human stupidity in his "only two things are infinite…" statement. I had coined my own version of it without ever having come accross his and only discovered this when it was pointed out to me by a friend in high-school, but essentially, the number of stupid people out there is always way too high.
I don't pity them as much as I pity me having to live here with them. And you know…not being allowed to use them for reactor fuel for the spaceship.
"They think that it's unfair that there are people out there who have money, great cars and decent possessions without stopping to think that the reason these people have these things is that they've worked hard to get them."
See the problem in US society is that this would be a very unpopular comment. A lot of people think that by not saying this, they are either being 'kind' or open minded. I had a headmaster once at a school where I taught who, when I reported not only vandalism, but had the three culprits in hand, dismissed my concerns by saying, "They're just kids."
What he meant was, "they're just Black kids." He honestly felt they shouldn't be expected to behave like the other pupils because they were underpriviliged simply by being born with black skin. Well, how insulting to them is that?
In fact, I knew two out of three of their mothers, who would have been appalled by their kids' behaviour and would have punished them for it,as any good parent should.These women were working hard to make a decent life for their children, and naturally you need to be a decent person to recognise that your parent is trying for a decent life. By allowing those children to get away with vandalism, he was damaging not only their self-esteem, but their idea of how they could operate in society.
Needless to say, I didn't listen to the headmaster and told their parents. Only one was blase about it (that kind of parent comes in every damn colour) But one of the mothers understood all too well what the headmaster was trying to do. She was furious with him. And her son never vandalised anything again. I felt sorry for his mother, and not because she was Black. It's hard enough to raise kids, but she had to do so by climbing over bleeding hearts to get to her son.
There is one young musician today who does not love, love, love, Tupac. And think he is some kind of hero for the life he lived.It seems the music he create was secondary. Thank God for Obama. He and his family are gong to change the way people see race in a way that no 'liberal' every could.
"Also I believe personality has alot to do with circumstance."
What did you mean with the above, Just Me?
I think it is a personality trait how people treat their circumstance. Some personalities will embrace their circumstance…other personalities will choose to be a victim of their circumstance – even though the circumstance may be identical. Guess that was the point you were making…duh me. Sometimes I just ramble and ramble 🙂
No that really wasn't the point I was making. I wrote a long explanation to Vicola. And lately I have been wondering if the point you are making is true-
I have seen exactly what you're describing in one of my sons. He wasn't raised to see "glass half full," but he does in simply every situation. I can't figure it out, it's so hard to watch him actually create his own unhappiness and misfortune, and frankly, it's a little more than annoying because he happens to be a pretty lucky person in s omany ways, compared to many other people on the planet.
I know we're totally off the topic of the post, but it's almost like you sent me a message from the gods by making this comment.I keep blaming myself that his persepctive is that way, but maybe it's just his personality, as you say.
Anyway, honestly, Just Me, I always enjoy your comments, they are usually very thought-provoking and intelligent.
"My experience is that unless you're directing something deliberately critical at them a person will only be offended when their horizons are being expanded."
My God- this is so true. Never thught of it that way before.Thanks,T.
Thanks, Suga. Thaks for stopping by, too.
All good and funny comments here, G. Thanks. I'll start making a list of people-fuel. Cheney and Bush are first on, though they might cause noxious engine fumes…
He's right but generally this amounts to the same thing for me as I deliberatly and specifically aim things at people to broaden their horizons. Or you know…at least improve their reflexes..:)
Or you know…at least improve their reflexes..:)
Good one.
Far be it from me to suggest anything to you about kid raising. I don't have kids and what's more I am sure you're a great mother. My personal thought on it is purely an algorithm, but it may be useful.
If he always sees the glass half-empty maybe he needs to be "parachuted into a drop-zone" for a while. As a parent, the idea of doing that is probably anathema, but if he were to spend a week living rough he may well change his view about a lot of things. Especially if he doesn't know if it's a week or a month or the rest of his life. Or going through basic training in the military. (but maybe not the US one…) Is it retarded? Is it risky? Sure. Is it character building? You bet your ass.
Maybe he's a gentle soul, still I think a week camping in the woods with not enough food and barely enough water and NO mobile may open his eyes to a lot of things.
Anyway. Just a thought. And probably not useful at all, still…maybe it might be.
A very good thought and one that has been suggested before by my husband, the Martian. Problem is, ex-husband, whom I suspect would not achieve Martian-friendly status in your eyes, believes all the negativity his son has developed comes from: my teaching him to do his own laundry at age 11, allowing him to live on university campus on his own at age 19, accepting that he doesn't want to be a clone of either his mother or his father at age 21, and finally, "not being around enough Greek people" (Direct quote).
(Sigh) I was a fool to leave this man. What was I thinking? ; )
Since I don't believe murder is the answer, I'm sort of stuck, and I have to respect that my son should eventually be able to figure things out on his own …or not. That is the hardest thing for a parent, I think, or at least for me–to accept that he might never learn how to be happy. We all want our children to be happy, but we can't make them be happy, and as someone else I love reminded me recently, trying to 'fix' him is also disrespectfully implying that he's 'broken.' The more I think about Just Me's comment, the more I realise there are some people who are simply negative. I do hope my son's not one, but…we'll see.
Thanks for your interest, by the way.
I so agree with that, Patricia.
I read a really interesting study on twins (I've always been facinated by twins, don't ask me why) which showed that identical twins raised in seperate households have shockingly similar personalities, (even when the twins never met each other) but adopted kids raised in the same household (not genetically related) were no more alike in personality than two people randomly plucked off the street. So parents have almost no effect on personality.
But of course personality is not all there is to actions; if parents show the consequences of poor behavior, kids will behave as good citizens. I am politically liberal, but socially conservative and here in Massachusetts it's a societal nightmare; parents think that bad grades lower self esteem and some even think that kids should be able to sue adults over not getting their way. It's a good model for what not to do!
Hmmm…certainly food for thought
Thanks so much for writing this. This is a very interestingt.And I wonder if you know we also have identical twins? I have to give it a good think, and ask my husband, too, if he thinks their personalities are similar. Nice dinner discussion for tonight. ; )
Thanks for stopping by, Cap. Interesting new profile photo. You always come up with some good ones.
You're welcome =) you always have interesting stuff posted.
!! I did not know you had twins. I have several "twin" friends and I find them quite interesting.
That is both one of the funniest and saddest replies I have ever read.
Not being around enough Greek People.
I am going to use that. Martian Plagiarism laws be damned. From now on if something goes wrong I will attribute it to not being around enough Greek people.
One other thought, he may just be a very strong mismatcher. I am wired that way myself. And basically the more you try to "teach him" to be happy, the less happy he will be. Statistically only about 35% of the population are mismatchers (it's an NLP term about metaprograms) but if he is, the best way to "cure him" is to agree with him that life sucks and actually it's worse than he says. The glass is not only half-empty, the half that is full is raw vinegar. With fungus in it.
It's subtle (and sometimes not even subtle) but works. I once went out with a girl that acted borderline insane and would go through all sorts of weirdness before sex. One day I told her I didn't love her and she didn't love me and she didn't want to have sex, and I didn't and in fact we were not attracted to each other (all false, she was one of the hottest girls i have known objectively speaking. pity about the broken brain) and i carried on like this and within seconds she was smiling, and in minutes she was laughing and all over me. it was one of the weirdest experiences, making love to someone and telling them you don't love them as you do….and feeling her melting into you….
So yeah…it's not just a theory. Sometimes being a mismatcher really sucks too because it's not something you can really control it seems to be a pretty baseline program as far as personality goes. (that is it seems somewhat indipendent of circumstance).
It's not a very popular idea over here either to be honest! In fact I had a 'heated debate' with someone about it the other day. I can see that in this country the pathways to being a professional, a dentist, doctor, lawyer, whatever, are more difficult to access for kids from a rough inner city estate than for middle class kids but I don't accept that this is a reason to give up. The reason I say this is that my grandfather came from a dirt poor bit of Salford, it was rough and there was NO money around, no benefits and welfare. He worked and worked, got his education and eventually he became one of the founders of the Met Office, that does all the weather forecasting over here. If he could do it in the days when families had no welfare and had to find money to live by whatever means they could then I don't see why people can't today. The concept of taking responsibility for your actions seems to have been lost.
Our twins only look identical when you see them together. When they are apart, their manerisms and vocal inflections are so different, as are their perspectives on so many things, one would swear they don't look alike at all. But, they do share a number of traits, as you say.
This mismatcher theory of yours has merit. I triued your technique on my son when he came by and was, as usual complaining. (Not that he actually didn't have something to complain about in this particular instance) Everytime he said something"sucked" I responded with"that worse than sucks" (The dialogue wasn't exactly like that, but you get the idea)
He left smiling and in a good mood.
Go figure.
Are Martians, perhaps, geniuses compared to Earthlings?
The concept of taking responsibility for your actions seems to have been lost.
I actually think that concept was stolen, rather than '"lost" from the inner-city youth, not by their parents, but by white-skinned bleeding hearts who still feel guilty about slavery. Let's mollycoddle people forever, Because we feel guilty, let's mollycoddle people forever, since that makes us feel less so. It's sickening and trouble is, it doesn't make up for slavery to tehpeople who were slaves, All it does is destroy their offspring sense of self. But if I say that, I'm told I have a "white person's mentality"
Funnily enough,. I was never told that by any of the parents of my pupils, nor the pupils themselves. No, only other whites ever said that. They still don't get what equality under the law means. It means treated people equally. Equal rewards, equal consequences, for equal behaviour.
Supra-geniuses actually. Earthlings make bonobo monkeys look evolved.
But I digress… the mismatcher theory is not "mine" per se. It's a tenet of Neuro-liguistic-Programming theory. A lot of NLP itself when "applied" by inexperienced or shoddy or brainwashed NLP certified "life coaches" doesn't work, but that's because NLP is a derivative of hypnotic processes, which you can't really learn in a week-end of focussed study.
He definitely sounds like a mismatcher. There are broadly speaking two types. Mismatchers with exceptions and just plain mismatchers. A book that explains it briefly but well is one of the ones by Anthony Robbins. He only wrote like 3 books one is called Awaken the Giant Within and the other one has a blue cover, can't recall the name right now, I think it was the first book he wrote whose name I can't recall, (the blue cover). Anyway there is a chapter called Metaprograms it's one of the most uesful chapters in the book.
Tony goes into a bit too much detail in certain ways but he is good at giving you just the essentials on other stuff. His metaprograms description is great and the book is worth it just for this. NLP people often make the mistake of getting too detailed. Getting an overal sense of the metaprograms of a person is an excellent way to learn to speak their language.
Try more subtle and more direct approaches with your son to see what works best. In general a pure mismatcher (there is no such thing we all have all metaprograms) will generally say "none" when you ask him to tell you the relationship between say all the objects currently on the table. a mismatcher with exceptions will say "None…except…maybe….______"
So try to figure out which one he is. Also figure out his other metaprograms. If he is a pure mismatcher who moves away from life in general he could be a real pain in the ass and the only way to make him "happy" until he figures out he can modulate his own metaprograms (and he will only learn to modulate them after someone has manipulated them for him…hello mom!) would be to agree with all his negatives and then tell him how running away from these big problem will ultimately cause massive, tragic and irrevocable pain.
Sort of…"Yes, yes, we will ALL die going over the top into the hail of gunfire that are the german machine guns…but it's worse than that because in fact we will die horribly and bleed out over a period of days whilst trying to push our own guts back into the gaping wounds…of course…running away and not doing it is even worse because oh my God man, think how could you ever live with the shame of it all????? It would be too much for anyone. But of course I expect you to disagree with me on this last point. I am conviced of it in fact."
Try that very sentence on him replacing certain obvious words and see how it goes. maintain the structure and remember to tell him you fully expect him to disagree strongly with you right at the end of it.
The thing with mismatchers is you have to think in reverse and then some, because they are generally smart and if you try to box them in too simply they will disagree again with your whole structure….
And I suggest you get tony's book…just page through the index and look for a chapter on metaprograms.
You have such a gift! I enjoyed every word!
Whew! sounds like a lot of work just for one kid, and you know we do have more than one! (Joking, of course) This is all useful information and I have actually read one of Tony Robbins books. Thank you again for your thoughtful reply!
Thank you, NayNay, for your comment and for stopping by!
The part on metaprograms i found to be one of the most useful long-term wise.
It seems metaprograms really are a kind of way that people function.
That's the key moment that kills Tom Robinson's testimony in To Kill A Mockingbird, isn't it? That he, the poor black man, has the temerity to pity a white woman, never mind her circumstances and family.It's so much easier to find an excuse for not doing something than doing it. And we all fall for that (just look at my days of unused gym membership). But when it becomes enshrined in law and allows people to destroy themselves and others, it's nothing but heartbreaking.
How's the saying go? Justice is what we deserve, Mercy is what we hope for.
Ok you need to post again now.
The lack of intelligent posts is making me hungry for human blood.
Save the Earthlings! Post more!
I'm working on something today. I've been very busy getting the magazine up this month. In the meantime, to save Earth, read this and tell me this young writer is not another Martian. In fact, I think she's your long, lost sister….
Yes, but neither occurs often enough, do you think? Thanks so much for commenting, Kzinti. It's appreciated.
When i am rich and famous i will buy her her very own sniper rifle. You know for voting purposes 🙂
LOL! Do I get one, too? In fact, I think we should all three go out there as a posse….
Never seems that Justice is served, but then again, it is one of those things that doesn't really have a defined trait. It is different in every persons point of view. What I consider justice, others would consider too soft while others too harsh. As for Mercy, it seems that fewer and fewer people have mercy on their minds. Even the people who are heavily religious, who are supposed to follow their religious beleifs of being merciful, loving and doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. They are the ones driving madly down the road, screaming at others to get out of the way all while talking on their cell phones. Ugh…
well it's a grassroots movement…if each one takes care of a country we can do more good….and work our way towards global domination 🙂
Making it easier for the Martian overlords when they land!
You know, I just saw this comment today, for some reason. I'm so sorry! Yes- that testimony and the lawyer's response to it was chilling.(Fab book, wasn't it? One of my favs) But it does indicate that 'feeling sorry' has an inherent, if unintentional perception of, "I think I'm better than you, I think you are deficient in some way." At the same time you are trying to 'help,' the person to whom your altrusim is directed, understands that unspoken judgment.