Bradley Manning: Integrity on Trial
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk

 

Forgive me. I scrapped three attempts of writing this week’s blog article. They were rants of a woman in distress. You deserve better.

In distress over corporate wealth that renders our government dysfunctional.

In distress over corporate greed, crippling us with debt and destroying our planet.

In distress at the extent and invasiveness of our surveillance state that stretches beyond our borders.

In distress at state governments dominated by conservative males intent on policing the female reproductive system and criminalizing women.

In distress over the racial bias of our judicial system that acquitted an armed vigilante who pursued and killed an innocent and unarmed, seventeen-year-old, black male.

In distress at our lack of compassion for the dispossessed, homeless, hungry, poor, and sick.

I find solace in the knowledge that goodness and integrity exist. I hold on to the hope that our virtue will triumph over the chaos of unrestrained power and greed.

I ponder the words of wisdom of Lao-tzu:

If you realize that all things change,
There is nothing you will try to hold on to.
If you aren’t afraid of dying,
There is nothing you can’t achieve.

 I soothe my troubled mind with the recital of Psalm 37:

Do not worry about the wicked,
Do not envy those who do wrong.
Quick as the grass they whither,
Fading like the green in the field…