Honorable Humanity

Our founding people of the United States chose their words intentionally. It is no accident that a judge is referred to as “Your Honor.” That title is a constant reminder of what their position represents: honor, and that they never forget to be honorable. A Supreme Justice also holds a title as a reminder of what they represent: supreme justice for all, and this is echoed in our Pledge of Allegiance, written in 1892. I have included the years that changes were made; the original was intentionally non-religious.

“I pledge allegiance to my flag [the flag 1923–1923] of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one [under God 1954] Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

I attended a Catholic school called Mater Christi in Burlington, Vermont, from kindergarten through 8th grade. I said the Pledge of Allegiance every day before class began for 10 years (I stayed back in 4th grade, for those adding numbers). I’m almost too old to die young now, and, given recent legal events, I have had the opportunity to experience our justice system personally. I have finally begun to form my own understanding of liberty and justice. I find systematizing justice necessary for dense populations, but a system is by nature without heart, and we must not forget to exercise our hearts, or we will not endure: cardio, cardio, cardio.

There is not so much need for interpretation; it is not a poem with many words. Each word carries enormous presumption. The legal system does work for many, but not for all. It is as perfect as it can be at any given moment because it is designed to grow and change. Our system is trying, and if it is not, then it must be reminded to do so. It is designed to develop, and when laws hurt the people, the people must force change. Our system is young, and this is my first principle: a well-balanced individual takes longer to develop than corruption, but corruption will always test the balance of an individual.

Truth is durable, and our Bill of Rights is incredible—not only for defining what our rights are, but because the states demanded to know what the Federal Government could not do. And in case anything was not expressly written as a right, it still belongs to us, as individuals, as communities, as states. The Bill of Rights defines the limits of the federal government; people are the essential component to meaningful change.

“For which it stands…” is this: “…one nation…” Each one of us, a cell that makes up the living, breathing body of the nation. “Under God, indivisible…” Please allow me to neutralize what is religious (since 1954), for I do not see the citizens under one religious view, and neither did our founders. That is reinforced by the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” and Article VI, Clause 3: “…no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” I would like to replace the word God with Humanity, not for lack of belief, but to provide a definition we might all agree is a goal worth turning our unified attention towards. Now lets attempt to define what it is to be human. To do that, I will brief the essence of my thoughts when I began to recognize the conflicting separation of powers within myself.

My Honor, My Heart

How is it that I can want something,

But once I have the thing,

My mind is not content.

When I am homeschooling my children,

I want to be in my shop working.

When I am working in my shop,

I want to be homeschooling my children.

When I am inundated with my duties of parenthood,

I find myself wanting freedom from those responsibilities.

And once I have that freedom,

I find myself scrolling through photos, admiring my wonderful children,

wondering, why do I waste this time reflecting the awe of them,

when I wanted this time for myself?

And shame on me for thinking that reflection is a waste of time,

for it is my freedom to waste my free time,

and it is my duty to examine my life

and fill my heart with what inspires my virtue.

To criticize is the nature of a human out of practice with personal discipline.

I can discipline my body, but the mind takes longer.

I can hear myself reasoning.

I can feel myself reacting.

I attribute the silence of the subconscious to the soul,

and the soul I see as my own Honorable Judge.

My honor silently watches and feels.

My honor silently reasons and rules.

My honor creates cause, and it must, on occasion, pause.

My face is the Executive presiding over my individuality.

My body puts my liberty and justice into motion

and shares the burden of fame indirectly with my face.

For the individual to remain indivisible,

for the capacity of liberty and justice of self,

the heart must not be broken,

because the heart powers and unifies the system.

The heart must be durable and strong—look at what it does. It moves the blood; it keeps the body, the mind, and the soul unified. “Cor” means heart, and “rupt” means broken. Without heart, an individual dies; and with corruption, the government body and the nation it represents will die. People of the United States must stand for what they believe, for placid people bring no change.

The structure of the biological system is impressive, the mind, the heart and the body are interconnected and yet, they have different desires. When a human holds their breath, the body will prioritize the core, and then if the breath is still held, the brain is where the residual oxygen is sent in order to preserve life. It must preserve the functions necessary for survival. Law is also organic; it appears our system of governance has become too obese to handle the output. We seek comfort, and we remain afraid, so we become fearful and protective; we lose trust and begin to isolate ourselves, and further strain the system.

Where is trust? Are there communities where the government and people trust each other? How many people live there? How can we nourish all the parts of the system, how can we remain cohesive?

Patience and perseverance are imperative. The judicial system is a controlled civil discusson; it is slow, painful, and destructive for many, but without the structure, honor, and justice, the civil discussion would be more painful, more destructrive and more like war. Our system gives order to chaos, and corruption must be effortfully neutralized. It is not perfect, but we must try.

We need the youth, as some of us are too old to continue the fight. Some of us are too inexperienced to fight righteously. We need the people. Freedom from must become freedom for, and we must know what we represent.

The Separation of Powers is ingeniously derived from philosophy. Chief Justice Warren Burger saw members of the legal community as public servants, and I see each part as having its duty and purpose. The heart has a duty; the kidneys and bladder do too. Each individual is made up of a long line that has evolved into us—we don’t come from one, because we are not one. We are the infinite, temporarily formed as humanity. We can and will go on forever, but we should not seek to preserve a world that is not unified.

We are not in control of the ultimate future. No matter where we go, without a pure, unified humanity, fear will necessarily follow, and once fear has destroyed everything in its path, it will remove its armor and see that it has always been love. And then it will endeavor to create. And so, every chapter of every combination will endure growth, awareness, and power, followed by fear and pain, which will give way to change, because possibility is the ultimate truth of existence. This is just our small moment to nurture what lies beyond our time.

From zero to infinity and back.

To be human is to experience what is before us and adapt. There is a philosophy that says humans are inherently selfish—that generosity is really for ourselves, because it makes us feel good to give, and so nothing we do is truly for another. However, this selfishness is a paradox. Humans could be selfish and derive no joy from generosity, and there are definitions that categorize such behaviors as antisocial, but those behaviors do not represent the majority. We feel selfishly good when we are kind to one another.

Politicians represent themselves when the people do not participate. Without the people, the politicians cannot assume to be capable of representing the majority. People are the heart, and without the heart, the possibilities are constricted, and so corruption is the fault of the people who see wrong and do not contribute an effort to effect change.

But it is a fight, and reasonably, most people wish to live peacefully. The size of the community is linked to accountability. The larger the community, the more difficult it becomes to perform checks and balances. So how can we do our part in a large city like Los Angeles? Start with your communities and be selfishly kind to others.

Selfishness by obvious definition relates to the self, not others. So any act that is directed outside of the self is not inherently selfish. Humanity serves itself by serving others. The more you give, the more you have. When you think of what you want, you see what you lack; but when you think of what you can give, and the effect on the recipients, you see how powerful an act of kindness is. Kindess is a gift that benefits the giver and the recipient.

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of another.” —Charles Dickens

And I add further: no one is happy who adds to the burden of another.