Author: Danielle Levy

People are more than their worst acts. We say that, and sometimes even believe it. Still we need it to be underlined once in a while, if not for ourselves, then to enable us to answer those who doubt it. That’s why this example stood out and made me take notice. An international medical charity in Virginia received a check for $15,000 made out to Project Hope, part of their Haiti relief effort. Of course, they wanted to know where it came from. They soon discovered it came from a group of women at the Ohio Reformatory for women called the “life group” since its members were serving sentences of 15 years to life. It’s a group of about 130 women who make money selling photographs of inmates with their families when they come to visit. Each picture sells for $3 to $5 giving the group about $6000 a month. When the inmates saw news of the earthquake in Haiti, they wanted to help. Staff members used the prison library to research the charities which provided aid.
We often forget that inmates are more than their worst deeds, and whether or not this act of giving and sharing is their best, it still is part of who they are.

Only %1 of Americans polled recently knew the names of all 9 Supreme Court justices. That obviously means that %99 of U.S. citizens do not know these names. Given that we live in system of “one-man-one-vote”, that we have a democracy where information is a precious currency, and that there is a disconnect between needed information and the voter, it does look our ignorance may not be benign. There is caution not to overstate the importance of knowing all the names since the court usually acts as one body. Still %1 is abysmal. Twenty to %25 would be bad enough, but none of the justices received that much recognition. The one name most respondent were able to mention was that of Clarence Thomas, and that was %19. One could make a case that our democracy can function without this knowledge, and that there are other more relevant information when one enters a voting booth. But the fact of %1 of Americans being able to name all 9 justices still stands as a reminder of our own power in a democracy. Being better informed has nothing to do with politics, big corporations, or any of the things that could influence our vote. It rests solely with us.

The government of Afghanistan is not happy with the Red Cross. They have been giving the Taliban lessons in first aid. Those in local governments on the side of President Karzai and for whom the Taliban are like “animals” don’t like it either. But the Red Cross is standing by its principle of neutrality. They do not take sides. Their job is to give aid and comfort to all who need it. That’s why in Helmand and Kandahar provinces they have trained more than a 100 Afghan soldiers and policemen, along with a taxi drivers meant to operate a form of ambulance service.
We live in a world where winning is important. We engage in a war with the idea of winning it. It is obviously not to our advantage to treat the other side in the same way, but from a universal perspective where all are equal what’s to our advantage may not necessarily be what’s right. If humanity has any common roots, it knows no side and what’s right is what safeguards that humanity.

Synthetic life has just been created priming us for a bold new future, leading us to believe that science and technology will find answers to all our woes. It may be, however, that such a notion may lead us in the wrong direction. Take shipping, for instance, and the turbulent course it is on in its quest to cut down on carbon emission. We’re all for reducing our carbon footprints and shipping goods across the oceans of the world leaves big ones. As it turns out the hopeful sign in reducing our footprints lies in a very old fashioned method, sailing, or the use of the wind instead of fossil fuels. It wouldn’t be sailing the way Columbus and others did it. Our present knowledge would enable sailing in a safer and easier way, with less hazards and problems. It all hasn’t yet been worked out, but in that old fashioned and tested way lies a hope for our future.