JUSTICE

"When justice is present, tranquility transcends a land much like the calm, flowing waters of the Niagara. When justice is absent, there is outright unrest; equilibrium in society is disturbed, and progress is paralyzed. Absent justice can be felt as impactfully as the waters gushing from the hoses of police spraying civil rights marchers. It stings. While these raging waters did not kill the civil rights workers, it forcefully halted their functions for the time. Absent justice has the same effect on society. Justice that is selectively present or disparately applied is no less deleterious. Disparate justice leaves a sect of society disconnected and breeds a spirit of divisiveness. Much like a person standing knee-deep in the murky, debris-filled swamp waters of Louisiana, those on the receiving end of disparate justice see what is across from them and know it is within close reach, but experience great frustration knowing they can only get to it if they fight great resistance."
~ Angela A. Allen-Bell, from 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters and Passageway on a Journey to Justice: National Lessons Learned About Justice From Louisiana's Response to Hurricane Katrina' in the California Western Law Review, Spring 2010

Graduation

We started off as strangers and ended up as best friends
As time got closer we prepared for the roads end
Never again will I see these familiar faces
And in just 8 days we’ll be gone to different places
To the heartbreaks and joyful laughter
To the endless phone calls and forever afters
To the ones who were there for you when no one seemed to care
To the ones who wiped off your tears in times of despair
To the stupid jokes made in class
To the idea that we’d never thought it would go by so fast
But now it’s time to grab our diplomas and say goodbye
To shed the tears and keep our heads up high
Remembering this might make us cry
But never forget keep reaching for the sky
Throughout the years we all seem to be close friends
But I know more than that, because this is my family
And we’ll be here for each other till the end
New class rooms, new teachers, new books
Changes, changes, changes. Oh how I wish you all the best of luck
From our staggering heights at our camps, from our little black tights in our 3 hour flights
On our way to the Nation’s capital, even all the way to our religious retreats
Even to scary story telling, to the memories we don’t want to delete
We’re graduating, and we know
Our lives will be different and new
We’re going out into the world
Our goals and dreams to pursue
To reading things in black and white to figuring out life smudged in the grey
“Congratulations you guys” you know they will say
And taking our last steps out of here, our hearts will forever stay
I will miss my close friends that are dear to my heart
But I will head on to the next chapter in life, a new beginning, a new start
Thank you class of 2011 for making these years unforgettable
We will all take a piece of each other with us
I love each and every one of you
I will take my steps out of this school without regrets, or worries
But with memories, friends and no hurry
We will become who we’re meant to be in life
And we will walk off grabbing our hands so tight
Knowing that the memories will stay forever in our minds

Another day

Another long day and night of moiling,
with no toll of my toiling.
But it is already another dawn .
Yes,a new dawn with new worries unknown,
so I have to call it a day,
knowing that I have found no solution today,
but wait to fight another day.
hoping to achieve success before next cockcrow,
And fulfill my dream of a better tomorrow,
A tomorrow that everyone would want to borrow,

poem by Eric Ateto

A better tomorrow

             I would want a better tomorrow.

A tomorrow that everyone would want to borrow.

              A successful gain,

       That was the result of pain .

       I won't forget my yesterday,

 Because it taught me the value of everyday.

      From these I learned,

And success was earned.

Now that I started it.

No one else will end it.

I know it's  shallow,

But my dream is a better tomorrow.

by A7XRica