Is Fighting for justice a right or a duty.

Is Fighting for justice a right or a duty.
The biggest decision a person makes in life is, do I take action or not.
Throughout the recorded history of humanity, there are many stories of people fighting for and against justice. The definition of what is “just” is not solid. It changes over time, and it is different from one place to another. Just two weeks ago the Catholic Church announced that Capital Punishment is not a just way to deal with criminals, reopening an age-old argument. Is it right to take a life for any reason, or is it not.
I grew up and lived my whole life in countries that don’t have capital punishment. Yet my childhood was spent in a war-torn area where many thousands of people constantly died fighting.  The main reason that propelled my parents to move to Canada was to live in peace. Peace and justice are nice but often don’t happen together. People discover that justice doesn’t happen without someone fighting for it or defending it, and that “someone” often pays the price.
There are many who fought against injustice in jails, right to this day. Canada right now is being “punished” by a kingdom of fanatics for expressing support for human rights.
One frequent problem is with people who treat the “commons” as their own. It is regularly mentioned in philosophical discussions. People assume that if something is not the private property of another individual than it is theirs to do with as they wish. Some destroy it; others improve it, all are justified in their own minds. Humans can’t function without setting rules.
Most people stay away from disputes over the commons. Protecting their own property, they are content to stay out of the fight. Let the government or authorities fight injustice, they say, forgetting that the government may be as unjust as anyone else.  Fighting against injustice remains with every person if we like it or not.
In my opinion, we don’t have the luxury to remain on the sidelines when we witness injustice. I strongly advocate peaceful, nonviolent resistance but not resisting is a statement by itself. Both sides in a conflict present themselves as being under attack. A person is obligated to figure out what is just and take appropriate action, or we will head in the wrong direction. Societies that didn’t have strong people fighting for what is right historically ended up causing great damage and failing miserably.
Currently, we see a trend where rich and powerful people remove victim’s ability to protest injustice. In the big picture, it is done by directing privately owned mass media outlets not to report what will damage profits or political power. If this is not enough the famous “fake news” comes to play. The honest news is rendered useless when it is flooded with opposing fabricated news.
Those in power get their way by rendering real news untrusted and by intimidating those who try to bring injustice to light. In some countries, the most dangerous job is to be a reporter.
You and I may witness unjust situations but often find ourselves unable to tell others about it. In the old days, shocking cases of abuse and crime were instantly the next day headlines in newspapers. In the modern environment, with internet and so much social media people discover that more is hidden then publicized. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the volume of so-called News without discovering injustice even when it affects our own lives. We have the means but can’t achieve the goals.
We all remember hearing about some well-known whistleblowers. Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden are just a few names that come to mind. People who chose to risk their lives in order to expose injustice, often towards all of us, have paid the price. They had to break an oath of secrecy in an attempt to stop evil actions, and they were incarcerated or hunted as bad animals. Many others simply were attacked with gossip and discredited for voicing opposition to unjust actions.
Overall, the question which faced people from the earliest time remains. Should a person speak up if he or she feels that unjust actions are taken, or not. In the current business led society majority will consider their own personal gain or loss before choosing sides. This attitude enhances the side opposing justice. Justice has nothing to do with personal gain. It is born with the person. If you have it in your blood, you will feel a draw towards taking just actions.
People on trial for crimes against humanity have justified their actions by the fact that they followed orders or were threatened into acting. Not many say that they didn’t know that their actions were inhumane. Others have used twists of religious texts in their defense but couldn’t say that they didn’t know that what they did was wrong.

I believe that there is what we call God’s justice. I don’t know any of your personal stories but I have witnessed that there is a universal justice simply as a function of nature. From my personal history I can suggest that over time, justice simply happens. Sometimes the justice that happens, not by the hands of humans is so severe that it makes me feel sorry for those who are punished by it.
I think that Capital Punishment is wrong even when we feel that it is just. If someone hurt my loved ones, I would wish them dead, but I shouldn’t support the killing. Killing other people is wrong. I also feel that each of us has the responsibility to speak up for what is “just” simply because we know that something is wrong. Others may feel different but if no action is taken injustice will triumph. Every person is a part of what human society becomes.
This is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.
Internet free art by Pixabay.

OUR Police.

A letter to the editor.

OUR Police.

In Fredericton, they’ve just buried two police officers who were murdered by a disturbed person.  The investigation will take place, and I predict the results, a person that should have had mental care but didn’t, killed our protectors.

Another officer was hit by a stollen truck in Calgary yesturday and is suffering in the hospital.

Some believe that Canada can make all guns disappear, but I don’t. Not unless we move Canada far away from the USA. We are better off the way it is. Good gun controls and a police force that is dedicated to protecting us.

So often stories about police abuse filter over our southern border, but most of the stories about our brave, very professional police, never even make it to the news. It is common, and we take it for granted. Perhaps we shouldn’t.

Two fine police officers a man and a woman were buried this week leaving their loving families behind to mourn. Those were Canadian police officers who protect Canadians day after day and hardly ever hear a thank you.

Constable Costello, 45, and Constable Burns, 43, were killed when they answered a call about shots being fired on the north side of Fredericton.

Well… I thank the police, even if they give me a ticket if I break the law. I am thankful for the world famous police forces of Canada, and I am not ashamed to cry for the fallen fine police officers from Fredericton and their families and friends.

Thank you to our police officers in the Crowsnest Pass, to our local and national police people and those who lead them to be what they are.

As the thin golden sound of the trumpet dies, the loud bagpipes become silent, and fresh graves are left by the mourners, a country mourns.  Canadians love and appreciate our police.

Midsummer to do (write) list.

Midsummer to do (write) list.

We Canadians appreciate our summers more than the majority of world’s population sharing this feeling mostly with the North Europeans and Russians who live in this latitude. The snowbirds come back, both the feathered kind and the Saskatchewan farmers kind, plus some people here who convinced themselves that our winters are a bad thing. I remember living in a tropical environment where everyone feared the summer heat (pre-Aircondition era) and narrated stories about snow to kids like myself who never seen it.

Now when traveling is affordable for most middle-class people it became a status symbol. If you wish to impress people you talk about where you were last winter. If they wish to keep their honor, they try and outdo your story with their own. The people south of us caught on and say, I hate shoveling snow, and you buy a trailer in some southern state and spend your winter months in it instead of in your nice home in Canada, golfing instead of skiing and swimming in an outdoor pool that is no match to our wonderful indoor facilities. Hurray.

Since I started writing the Simple Raven’s Post in mid-Canadian winter, which I happened to enjoy in many ways, I received hundreds of compliments from folks like you who really enjoy the articles. To my surprise, many people read my somewhat controversial opinions and tell me that those are exactly their thoughts. Often they suggest that I should write about other items which they believe should be aired in public. The pages are simply not long enough to cover all the material which could and should be talked about. Here are some of the main items on people’s minds.

The smoke is bothering people all over Alberta. Worst than smoke, many of us live in areas that could be damaged severely by fires and the fires can affect our food supply. Is there a solution? Yes, there is, but it's not an easy task. We have to change our economic system and begin to use much less energy that is based on burning fuels. The technology is known and improving by the day but we are held back by the owners of existing old fuels stock.

There is a huge problem with sexual abuse which is wreaking havoc in our society. Before my time and when I was young, male humans took advantage of their female counterparts by force or often by using positions that granted them power. When the sixties came, it was discovered that women are actually full-fledged humans, and over a short period, a change took place. It became socially unacceptable to use power, force, and money, to extract sexual pleasures from those physically weaker such as women and children. The world of the rich self-proclaimed superior people turned upside down. This week’s scandal is about the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania, at times it is about the entertainment industry, the political profession, educational institutions, medical profession, smaller religious sects or simply powerful public figures.

I like to cover more economy-related issues and perhaps help save our fast failing capitalist system. We built a system where corporations are viewed as people but without them having to follow laws that govern people. For a while, it helped corporate owners to become rich quickly, but now opposite momentum is threatening to defeat the whole system. If we don’t take some timely steps, we will be facing rebellion and even conflict that can destroy countries.

I always like to write some material about my favorite subject, spirituality, and morality. I receive most comments about this topic, and there is great interest in it. Spirituality in the West is exploring untraditional and far East knowledge that took a long time to travel around the world. Stil there are misconceptions such as that Yoga is only an exercise or that the body possesses a soul instead of the other way around. Morality is changing with new scientific discoveries just as religious teachings changed with the discovery of the telescope.

I would like to discuss more elaborately the problem associated with the Trump attacks on the free press. I do not wish to live in a dictatorship. I already see signs of a move towards authoritarianism when the new Premier of Ontario is getting rid of elected representatives at the civic level, and it scares me. We are facing some repressive political forces and if we don’t have free media this country and the big neighbor in the South can become like, let's say, today’s Turkey. There will be a small group that will control the masses and keeps them in line by force. Again, I see flashing warning danger signs.

I must write sometime about fear. Fear doesn’t prevent death it prevents life. Those who build walls to protect themselves are building the walls of their jail. A great man that I once met used to say at the end of all his speeches, and he often spoke, “be not afraid.”

I sometimes get requests to mention local items in the Simple Raven’s Post. The latest is the proposed formation of a men’s choir modeled after the Men Of the Deep from the Maritimes. I don’t have much information yet, but I like very much the sound of the original miner's group especially singing with Rita McNeil. If we were to have such a choir, I would definitely consider joining even while knowing that I can’t read music or start a song on a specific note. If you are interested, you can contact Carmelia Saretzky or leave a question on my blog.

Overall, I will not be able to cover all the good subjects proposed, in my short commentary, but I will try. The smoke will give way to the frozen fresh air, and some problems will take care of themselves. As long as people ask me to write about their concerns, I feel empowered and go on, one word at the time.

I am so upset with the government I can’t keep it to myself.

I am so upset with the government I can’t keep it to myself.
The whole scandal with the Saudi Arabia kingdom is so upsetting to me. It was unnecessary. Since when do government officials conduct foreign policy on Twitter and expect good results? Did our diplomats go to Trump University to learn diplomacy? If they did, they should have got their money back when he lost a lawsuit and was forced to return student’s tuitions.
I am all for standing up to bullies and human rights abusers, but I like to do it in a less damaging way. We could have called the Saudi ambassador and tell him our concerns as per proper protocol, couldn’t we? No, we had to upset the very rich and very sensitive young prince instead, and upset he is. He is pulling his citizens off the operating tables, in Canadian hospitals, recalling his students from here and canceling flights that are good business for his airline company. Ouch.
Now I am forced to look at the consequence of the offending Tweet and examine the damage. We are dealing with the most oppressive regime in the Middle East. A country which Bin Laden came from and most of the terrorists from 9/11 were born in. A kingdom that beheads people, mutilates or crucify people, and so far doesn’t let women drive or go shopping without a male companion even when covered with a burka. (Not written in the Koran) We are protesting that they arrest our citizens for criticizing their backward ways and we are the only one to do so.
They have money and oil and very powerful allies in the Whitehouse. The President was doing a Sword Dance with the Sheiks and Princes on live television less than a year ago. I bet he got to keep the jeweled sword too.
Should our government have provoked them? What would be the consequence? They will take their students elsewhere and destroy the young people’s hopes for a normal graduation. We will lose some revenue, but others from other countries will quickly replace the students. Our education system is second to none.
The physicians that we train for them will leave without graduating or completing their studies. As far as I am concerned, we should have been training more Canadian doctors in the first place instead of training Saudis and importing Doctors from other places. Why not start now? I know some bright young Canadians who will be happy to fill the empty spots at our Universities. The Saudis can keep their money, and we will not build a new auditorium or stadium every year. No great loss.
At this point, the gracious Saudi prince did not decide to stop exporting oil to Canada. It would be generous if we didn’t have our own oil, which we do in Alberta. If we stop buying oil from the kingdom that financed Al-Qaeda, we could convince our brothers and sisters in the east to allow a pipeline from Alberta and use it until we convert to cleaner energy. Jobs jobs and more jobs.
The big fear is that the Saudis will cancel the Harper Government’s deal to purchase our excellent armored vehicles. Trump will offer American tanks instead, and his weapon manufacturers friends will love him. Well, I will not. He is probably the one that is telling the Prince what to do. I would not cry over it.
 Ontario now under the capable leadership of Doug Ford is probably going to recuperate very fast. If not, we can offer to buy the vehicles for the Canadian Army to comply with Trump’s demands to spend more on defense. It will boost our land defense capabilities and will make it harder for Trump to even think about using military threats against us. Who knows, Trump and Putin may have discussed dividing Canada amongst themselves in their secret meeting in Helsinki. It was done to Poland when Hitler and Stalin had secret negotiations.
Overall, I don’t know if the offending tweet was sent on purpose to aggravate the young prince, in his elegant long rich robes, or if it just happened due to carelessness. I think that it serves a very good purpose. It showed us that our “friends” can’t be depended upon in times of trouble, and pointed out that we should use our own resources ahead of purchasing from others. It came at the right time. Shop locally as we say.
We can exchange some of our Saudi “visitors” for our arrested citizens, and we can tell the Saudis to keep their oil. They lost half of their savings recently, on the stupid, vicious war in Yemen, and they desperately need the money. We can keep them guessing by floating the idea that their mortal enemy Iran may be interested in our armored vehicles, which they probably are. Above all, we can show them that if they wish to make deals with Canada, they will have to negotiate with an Alberta woman minister which really hurts their pride. If they think they will bring us to our knees, they got a problem.
This is one person’s opinion.

https___media.npr.org_assets_img_2018_03_19_ap_18066788466235-3e530ae26357ff232d44a767d182ee3382614eac[1]
Prince Mohammed Bin Salmon, Supreme leader and friend of the Trump family.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http___media.mensxp.com_media_content_2016_Oct_saudi-arabia-executes-prince-convicted-of-killing800-1476944113[1]
Beheadings are done in public in Saudi Arabia. They punish countries that talk about it.