MY THOUGHTS ON CIVIC RIGHTS

WELCOME TO THIS POST!

A LOVELY FLOWER FOR MY READERS.

An impressive, large Chilean shrub, Azara serrata

 Click to enlarge

Source: Steve Law, CC BY SA 2.0. Wikimedia Commons

This is a FTSF post, that’s Finish The Sentence Friday, a Blog Hop! The prompt for this week is the following.

My favorite movie of all time is…

My favorite movie of all time is … To Kill a Mockingbird.

CHILEAN YELLOW SORREL

 

 Click to enlarge

Source: Magnus Manske, CC BY SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons

MY THOUGHTS ON THIS MOVIE

To my mind, this movie is the classic of classics. An incredibly complex story made up of a main stream and several other streams that intermingle with the main one. A real masterpiece and the movie is quite faithful to the book, for once!

This literary masterpiece, Harper Lee’s one and only novel, is so well known, that I won’t go into the details of the story, but rather provide comments and reflections of my own.

The main theme hits you in the face: the rather hopeless defense of an Afro-American in an ambiance of strong racial prejudice, which included an all-white jury, if my memory serves me correctly.

Tom, the Afro-American, is obviously innocent, but is condemned anyway.

The defense attorney, Atticus Finch (a young Gregory Peck in the movie), puts up a strong case in a hopeless situation, thereby providing a great model of the ethics that should rule all judiciary systems, and a confirmation of an age old principle: it is the right of every person, whether guilty or innocent, to be provided with a fair trial. This obviously includes the right to a professional defense.

THE COPAHUE VOLCANO WANTS TO ERRUPT!

 Click to enlarge

Source: Mono Andes, CC BY 2.0. Flickr

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.

A few years ago, I was the key “witness for the prosecution” in a homicide trial.

There was no avoiding it; I actually saw the shooting from a very close distance, almost right on top of it, in fact.

I also bore a lot of the weight of all the consequences that this horrendous action caused.  I should clarify that the shooting took place in a passage of a secondary school during class hours and I happened to be the Director of said school, which included 800 adolescents and about 72 members of the staff.

I admit that I had no love at all for the defense lawyers; I wanted the culprit condemned with a sentence of at least 10 years.

In this case, it was the prosecution that faced the hopeless task, we didn’t get 10 years, and the sentence was dropped to 6 years and finally finished up at 4 years on parole. No prison time at all.

The whole judicial procedure dragged on for about 2 years, and strangely enough, it was the principles and models of “To Kill a Mockingbird” that helped me to steer through the stormy waters.

Emotionally, I disliked the defense lawyers intensely. But my rational mind accepted the fact that the guilty person – and we all knew he was guilty – had the right to a good defense.

I’m proud to say I weathered this tempest and came through more or less in one piece. The almost four hours on the witness stand, facing a total of 5 lawyers plus the 3 members of the court, were really hard, but well worth the experience.

THE COPAHUE VOLCANO IS GETTING ANGRY!

 Gas emissions, January 2013

 Click to enlarge

Source: NASA, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

EVENTS IN CHILE’S RECENT HISTORY.

I have a very clear idea of what can happen when the traditional civic systems break down: I lived and worked through the entire period of the Pinochet military dictatorship.

I won’t go into details; I don’t think that would be the right tone for this Blog Hop.

I do want to say that for many years, the concept of a fair trial was put on hold in this lovely country. In other words, the authorities of that time had no use for roles like that of Atticus Finch, as described in “Mockingbird”

For those of you who would be interested in exploring this topic further, I can recommend a YouTube video called “Dawson, Isla 10”, a Chilean movie.

It’s based on a book of the same name. The video is in Spanish, but I tried it without the audio, and it’s perfectly understandable just by looking at the scenes it shows.

It’s a hard movie, about political prisoners whose normal civic rights were non-existent. This video is a perfect example of what can happen when persons like Atticus Finch cannot fulfill their roles.

I’m not including the actual video; I don’t think it should be included here. 

THE BEAUTIFUL CRATER LAKE OF THE COPAHUE VOLCANO 

I hope it survives the coming erruption!

 Click to enlarge

 Source: Schlitzer90, CC BY SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons

PRESENT DAY CHILE.

At the present time, Chile is forging ahead on the road to development. It’s been a difficult effort, and there have been numerous mistakes on the way, but this is now a completely different country.

In order to keep the tone as light as possible, I’m including some photos of this lovely country that have little to do with the contents of this post.

I hope you have found this post interesting, and I hope to see you again soon!

LA MONEDA PALACE, THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT

All reconstructed, no traces of the bombing of September 1973

 Click to enlarge

Source: Leopard123, CC BY SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons

SPANISH VERSION

(This Blog is bilingual)

Este post surge en respuesta de un desafío presentado por mi grupo de Blogueras y Blogueros, en el que se nos pedía escribir sobre la película que creíamos era la mejor de las mejores.

Elegí “Matar a un Ruiseñor”, ese clásico que nunca pasará de moda. 

La historia es conocida por muchas personas y no es el tema a desarrollar aquí. Sin embargo, me he referido a la importancia del rol del personaje  de Atticus Finch, el abogado defensor que cumple cabalmente con defender a un afro-americano en el período histórico de la extrema discriminación racial en los EEUU.

Si bien es cierto que la defensa de Tom, el Afro en cuestión, está destinada a fracasar, la película muestra el gran valor moral que encierra el profundo principio ético de otorgar a cada cual el derecho a tener una legítima defensa, en un juicio en el que se respete los derechos cívicos que son irrenunciables a mi modo de ver.

En otros párrafos de este post, me refiero a mi triste experiencia como “testigo clave de los prosecutores” en un juicio por homicidio. 

Aquí la situación es al revés, son los defensores los que tienen todas las posibilidades de ganar, y de hecho logran reducir la sentencia del culpable – sobre cuya culpabilidad no hay ninguna duda -  de tal forma que el hechor sólo recibe una condena por 4 años, a cumplir con libertad vigilada. Es decir, cero años en prisión.

Lo curioso es que logré salir adelante en este trance, al recordar siempre los principios éticos ¡que se observan con tanta claridad en el juicio de la película “Matar a un Ruiseñor”. Una gran película, sin duda alguna.

En los párrafos finales de este post, me refiero a los tristes años de la dictadura militar de Pinochet en Chile, años en los que los derechos cívicos de las personas fueron arbitrariamente suspendidos. 

Fue un período que me tocó vivir de principio a fin, y puedo asegurar que el video de YouTube que lleva el nombre de “Dawson, Isla 10” bien vale la pena de ver como registro histórico de esos eventos. 

Hoy en día, Chile forja su camino hacia un desarrollo más pleno. La tarea no ha sido fácil, e indudablemente se han cometido errores, pero éste simplemente ya no es el mismo país que muestra el mencionado video.

El tono de estos acontecimientos no son lo más indicados para este Blog Hop, de modo que sólo estoy incluyendo algunas fotos más amenas para alegrar el tono general de este post.

Espero les haya gustado este post y ¡espero verlos en la próxima!

How is your level of comprehension?    ¿Cómo está su nivel de comprensión?

© 2013  jveronr  (Joan Robertson)

I will be very happy to receive your comments! Just click the word “comments” lower down.

 

WHERE IS CHILE?

WELCOME TO THIS POST!

 SOME LOVELY FLOWERS FOR MY READERS!

 

These flowers are growing in Puerto Montt.

Click to enlarge

Source: McKay Savage, CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons

THE BIRTH OF CHILE, A LEGEND.

In the beginning, the Great Spirit created the World by designing the continents, the oceans and seas. He also added in the mountains, the rivers and the lakes. He thought some trees would be nice, as they would provide some shade and protection, so He added those as well. He worked at his masterpiece for some time and when He could think of nothing more to add, He sat down to rest.

Then He realized that He had whole collection of bits and pieces that were over, and He didn’t know what to do with them. There were oddments of deserts, and lots of rivers, also some attractive lakes and a collection of mountains and volcanoes. There were a lot of extra trees, and a big assortment of islands of all sizes and shapes, together with some canals and one or two straits. There were even some fjords and some glaciers! 

He pondered for a while about these surplus oddments, trying to decide what to do with them. They were really too good to just discard. 

Eventually, He gathered them all up in His hands and made a bundle of them. Then He threw them all down in the most remote corner of the World that He could find.

The result of this action was the territory that we now call Chile!

OSORNO VOLCANO WITH THE PETROHUE FALLS IN THE FOREGROUND

 Click to enlarge

Source: Silvio Rossi, CC BY 3.0. Wikimedia Commons 

AMANCAY FLOWERS GROWING WILD WITH THE OSORNO VOLCANO IN THE FAR BACKGROUND

 

These are the well known Alstroemerias of present day fame as an elegant cutting flower!

Click to enlarge

 Source: Jason Hollinger, CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons

WHERE IS CHILE?

Chile is that long, string-bean country that snuggles up against the Andes Mountains in what is known as the Southern Cone of South America. 

There really isn’t a lot of room for Chile to fit, as it is hemmed in from North to South by the Andes on the East and the Pacific Ocean on the West. However, as far as the geography of the country goes, it certainly fulfills the legend of its creation as described above.

A quick glance at a relief map will show that the country is a varied collection of “bits and pieces”, with a little bit of everything stuffed into its narrow confines. 

And any visitor would have to agree that these bits and pieces “were really too good to discard”, just as the legend states: there is a lot of beauty packed into the string-bean! 

As the posts for this blog roll out, I hope to be able to show some of this beauty and the very original aspects that make up this country called Chile, which provide for its general fascination. 

So I hope you readers will be patient, and constant enough to enjoy the gradual “revealing of Chile” through the eyes of this Blog!

LOCATION MAP OF CHILE

 Cliuck to enlarge

Source: Chile location map, CC BY 3.0. Wikimedia Commons

SPANISH VERSION

(This Blog is bilingual)

LEYENDA SOBRE LA CREACION DE CHILE

Durante la etapa de la Creación, el Gran Espíritu diseñó los continentes y los mares. Luego agregó las montañas, los ríos y los lagos. Pensó que sería grato contar con árboles que dieran sombra y ofrecieran protección, y también los agregó. Trabajó largo tiempo en su obra maestra y cuando ya no encontró qué más añadir, se sentó a descansar.

En ese momento se percató que aún tenía toda una serie de padecerías que le habían sobrado. Tenía algunos restos de desiertos, numerosos ríos y unos lagos realmente hermosos, además de una serie de montañas y volcanes. Le sobraba también una gran cantidad de árboles y un enorme surtido de islas de todos los tamaños y formas, junto con algunos canales y un par de estrechos. Incluso ¡habían algunos fiordos y varios ventisqueros!

Meditó durante un rato sobre estas sobras, tratando de decidir qué hacer con ellas. En realidad, eran demasiado atractivos como para botarlos.

Finalmente, optó por recoger todos estos elementos en sus manos. Hizo un gran atado con ellos y luego los lanzó en el rincón más remoto de la Tierra que le fue posible encontrar.

¡Y así nació Chile!

¿DÓNDE ESTÁ CHILE?

Chile es ese país largo y angosto que se levanta en el pequeño espacio que sobra entre la Cordillera de los Andes hacia el Este y el Océano Pacífico hacia el Oeste. 

En realidad no goza de un espacio muy amplio como para lucirse, sin embargo su geografía es un fiel reflejo de la leyenda sobre su creación que se relata en los primeros párrafos.

Una breve inspección de un mapa físico de Chile, en el que se muestre su relieve, permitirá apreciar que en realidad se trata de un gran surtido de pedacerías, y toda visita al lugar rápidamente estará de acuerdo que estos “pedacitos” eran realmente demasiado hermosos como para descartarlos. 

A medida que se vayan desarrollando los posts de este Blog, espero poder mostrarles algunos de estos variados elementos, que contribuyen con tanta fuerza ¡a la gran fascinación de que ofrece Chile!

Espero que mis lectores tengan la paciencia de acompañarme en este viaje en el que gradualmente revelaremos la esencia de Chile. 

See you again on the next post!     Los veré en el próximo post!

© 2013  jveronr  (Joan Robertson)

I will be very happy to receive your comments! Just click the word “comments” lower down.