One more shot

As part of our online journalism course, we've been asked to start a blog focusing on a certain theme. Instead of starting a completely new blog I decided to bring this one back from the dead. I'm not sure what my theme will be..... international issues, national issues, local issues, religion, sports or maybe just life as a journalism student in downtown Toronto....I don't know...... I'll keep you posted.

Drawing parallels

"But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone."

-- excerpt of "I Have A Dream" speech by Martin Luther King Jr., 1963

On Certainty

"Action is possible only in the presence of certainty; a servant acts in obedience only to the extent that he has certainty, and a man becomes neglectful in his actions only when his certainty diminishes."

-- Luqman the Wise

Bottom's up

Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet has died at the age of 91. Pinochet came to power in 1973 through a military coup, largely supported by the United States and Britain, deposing Chile's democratically-elected president. Millions of Chileans were killed, tortured, and persecuted under Pinochet's regime. You can read more about it all here.

I happened to catch some of the reaction to Pinochet's death on the evening news last night. Now while I can't even begin to know how those who were tortured and persecuted, and those who lost family members to Pinochet's regime must feel, I hardly think dancing in the streets and popping bottles of champagne is the proper reaction. In fact, I find it quite disturbing.

Death, anyone's death, should force us all to ponder our own mortality, and examine our own faults and shortcomings, not celebrate and get drunk.