What does it take for someone to stand up and keep walking in the face of so many obstacles and setbacks? What does it take for someone to allow her own freedom to be restricted for as long as her people are denied theirs?

Aung San Suu Kyi was born in 1945, the daughter of the leader of the Burmese Liberation Army who was assassinated when she was two years old. She was educated in Burma, India and United Kingdom. While studying at Oxford University she met her husband, Dr Michael Aris and they married in 1972 having two sons, Alexander and Kim.

(Article by Aung San Suu Kyi for The New York Times. Feb 4th, 1997)

RANGOON Those of us who decided to work for democracy in Burma made our choice in the conviction that the danger of standing up for basic human rights in a repressive society was preferable to the safety of a quiescent life in servitude. Ours is a nonviolent movement that depends on faith in the human predilection for fair play and compassion.

Before losing her head entirely, Marie Antoinette is credited with making the statement, “If they have no bread, let them eat cake.” The context was late 18th century France at a time when the over-indulgence of the French royalty and nobility led to a state of famine and extreme poverty for most of the population. From her pampered life Marie saw none of this and was a little surprised by the anger she noticed in the city one day as she was couriered between palaces. “Why are they so angry?” She asked her attendant. “They have no bread,” he replied. “If they have no bread, let them have cake.”

If you’re wondering what I’m doing here, at a prayer breakfast, well, so am I. I’m certainly not here as a man of the cloth, unless that cloth is leather. It’s certainly not because I’m a rock star. Which leaves one possible explanation: I’m here because I’ve got a messianic complex.

From September 13 to September 16, 200,000 union workers went on strike
demanding a living wage of US$ 93/months to ensure basic provisions of life such
as sufficient nutrition and shelter. The national strike was in response to a July 2010
announcement by the government that the minimum wage for factory workers
would be set at $61USD/month.

Every year in Cambodia, hundreds of girls are trafficked and sold into brothels where they are forced to work as sex slaves.  Although precise figures are unavailable, analysts say that the rate of trafficking is soaring.  Many of the victims endure years of torture and abuse in brothels, resulting in lasting physical and psychological damage.  

Once again we approach a momentous date. A time to remember when the world changed.

A Time for Mourning

On first glance we are reminded of a date nine years ago focused on the centers of economic and military might of the United States of America.

Justice is about making wrongs right.

In the criminal justice system the wrong is the crime but the limitations in being able to restore all property, life and limb have led to a focus on retribution – making others suffer for the wrong they have caused and perhaps, in the process, deterring others from committing the same crime. But is this justice? Has the wrong been righted?

The United States, Great Britain and France earn more income selling weapons to developing countries than they give in aid to those same developing countries. A mere 10% of the US military budget could care for the basic needs of the entire world’s poor.

Martin Luther King jnr is one of my heros.

Being a key figure of the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s he developed a strong philosophy of active nonviolence that was based on seeking a win-win solution for all participants in the movement, both the oppressors and the oppressed. He wrote the following letter on scraps of paper while in jail in Birmingham, Alabama and as a response to reading a media statement by the local clergymen criticizing his actions.

This letter provides a very powerful defense of  nonviolence from a philosophical, biblical, and practical viewpoint.

What would happen if we really forgave our enemies?

That’s the questions posed by Diana Butler Bass in an article written after observing the response of an Amish community after the horrendous school shooting in 2006. What if we all responded toward those who harmed us in the same way?