So I had a week off blogging … last Wednesday was Wim Verhoeven’s funeral, perhaps that had something to do with it. Wim’s now having an eternity off everything (according to the majority view of the familiar faces at the funeral). It makes you think.
The funeral celebrant told us that now is a time for mourning Wim’s death, but it is also a time for celebrating Wim’s life. This is no mere euphemism. In the words of Kahlil Gibran (The Prophet)
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives? When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.” But I say unto you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed. Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced. When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.
This post is my small tribute to Wim. Some other tributes are here and here.
Was Wim’s life a success? Did he live a life worth celebrating? I think the answer is a resounding yes. Wim certainly ticked all his own boxes!
I didn’t know Wim particularly well but we conspired to overthrow the government at many, many Libz events and meetings. For a time, Wim hosted our regular meetings in his own home after we got kicked out of The Quiet Lady in Karori. I think it was fitting that after the funeral, half a dozen or so of the Libz members (past and present) who attended held an impromptu Libz meeting at a nearby coffee shop. Wim’s dead, but the cause of freedom, to which Wim contributed so much, is still very much alive. Onward Christian (and non-Christian) soldiers!
What’s Up? 4 Non Blondes.
Twenty-five years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination
And I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the world was made up of this brotherhood of man
For whatever that means
And so I cry sometimes
When I’m lying in bed
Just to get it all out
What’s in my head
And I am feeling a little peculiar
And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream at the top of my lungs
What’s going on?
And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what’s going on?
ooh, ooh ooh
and I try, oh my god do I try
I try all the time, in this institution
And I pray, oh my god do I pray
I pray every single day
For a revolution
And so I cry sometimes
When I’m lying in bed
Just to get it all out
What’s in my head
And I am feeling a little peculiar
And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream at the top of my lungs
What’s going on?
And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what’s going on?
Twenty-five years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination
This afternoon, my mum and I attended the Episcopal Ordination (Consecration) of Bishop-Elect Reverend Justin Duckworth (previously blogged about here) and his Installation (Enthronement) as the 11th Bishop of Wellington at St Paul’s Cathedral in Wellington.
It was a spectacular occasion. More funny hats than you can shake a stick at. The stick, on this occasion, being the impressive Pastoral Staff, shaped and carved (out of matai) by Huitau te Hau. Justin recounted that he had received the Pastoral Staff the previous morning, at Rimutaka Prison. It was gifted with a message, viz., “Remember who you serve,” or words to that effect.
It was a joyous occasion, but also a serious one. The seriousness of the occasion was evidenced by one of the three readings, viz., John 21:15-19.
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”
The part of the service that impressed me most occurred shortly after the ordination and installation of the new bishop. Justin was greeted, welcomed, and his wife Jenny was presented with flowers, and then (from the event programme)
Bishop Justin responds and then symbolically washes the feet of three members of the Diocese.
That’s right. His first significant act as Bishop was to kneel before those whom he has been appointed to serve, and wash their feet. This is true humility. Being a libertarian, I could not help but be reminded of Matthew 20:25-28 (also Mark 10:42-45).
Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
If I had my way, every session of Parliament would begin in a like manner, with every Member of Parliament washing the feet of one of their electorate constituents. Just to remind the bastards who they’re there to serve.
Martin Luther King was one of many Civil disobedient Activists who found himself in jail for resisting Racial segregation. Ultimately He gave his life for the righteous cause of racial equality before the Law.
Dakta Green is behind Bars tonight because of his stand for the rights and liberties of Cannabis users.
If it were not for the High morals and defiant yet Peaceful Civil disobedience of brave and enlightened People like Dakta Green, Western civilization would never have risen out of Barbarism.
Yet the quest for Freedom and justice is not yet won.
We may have to a large degree escaped many of the Classic evils of Bygone days yet only naive and foolish sheeple do not appreciate the fact that corrupt political powers and Subjection to tyranny still abounds.
There are plenty of Righteous causes and oppressed minorities in dire need of champions.
And when such champions arise, they face a vicious multi headed beast!
Bigorty and Tyranny.
Though they know they will be mauled, yet still their Conscience and love of humanity moves them to put themselves in jeopardy for the sake of Liberty and Justice.
One thing Political Evil cannot tolerate is defiance!
In Cold resolve of self preservation the tyrants move to crush the righteous, to break their spirits, and trod them under… as an example to the rest of the sheeple to stay in line…or else!
And when this happens… and the champions of Liberty and justice are in chains… who will rise up for their sakes?
I am not Surprised….yet still it was with shock, Depression, and Indignation that I received the news tonight that Cannabis Law Reformer Dakta Green is back behind bars.
It was to be expected given the fact that though Dak had only just been release from Prison for his Activism to end Cannabis prohibition, and ‘Living like it’s legal’… had declared that though he did not wish to go back to jail… he was resolved to continue his civil disobedience and crusade to end the oppression of Cannabis users.
This could only result in one thing.
The Machine is determined to break Him… and so acting under pressure from the Polit bureau the ‘Bastards in Blue’ paid him another visit. He was arrested for ‘breach of bail conditions’… I am not sure if this means he is facing new charges in relation to cannabis use. I do know
I am not writing this blog merely to report it travesty.
I am writing it to ask all decent and liberal minded people what they intend to do about this?
We must Rally!
Our Man needs Backup!
Will you sit back in front of the telly and do naught?
I am sitting here wondering what I am going to do about this…and I will be doing something more that typing about it!
Duty calls.
Activists must Act! (peacefully and with all respect for good law)
I will report back when I have decided what I can do.
I suggest those of you who care… those of you with a spine… that you contact talk to your friends and families about this, and rally them to the cause! Contact Norml.
Contact Me.
twikiriwhi@yahoo.co.nz
Oh it’s not convenient right now for you to do anything?
*Slap yourself for me!*
When is it ever convenient to stand against Evil powers?
Dak needs us *NOW!*
I implore you to rise up!
I will see you at the front of the picket line!
Tim Wikiriwhi
Christian Libertarian.
Alan Turing (June 23, 1912 – June 7, 1954)
War hero, mathematician, the father of computer science and State rape victim.
If you’ve done a Google search today, you probably noticed that it’s Alan Turing’s 100th birthday. Who was Alan Turing and why am I paying tribute to him?
Alan Turing (1912–1954) never described himself as a philosopher, but his 1950 paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” is one of the most frequently cited in modern philosophical literature. It gave a fresh approach to the traditional mind-body problem, by relating it to the mathematical concept of computability he himself had introduced in his 1936–7 paper “On computable numbers, with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem.” His work can be regarded as the foundation of computer science and of the artificial intelligence program.
Here’s British Prime Minister (in 2009) Gordon Brown to tell you a few other things you need to know about Turing. (Thanks to Ian Watson for the transcript of Brown’s apology.)
This has been a year of deep reflection – a chance for Britain, as a nation, to commemorate the profound debts we owe to those who came before. A unique combination of anniversaries and events have stirred in us that sense of pride and gratitude that characterise the British experience. Earlier this year, I stood with Presidents Sarkozy and Obama to honour the service and the sacrifice of the heroes who stormed the beaches of Normandy 65 years ago. And just last week, we marked the 70 years which have passed since the British government declared its willingness to take up arms against fascism and declared the outbreak of the Second World War.
So I am both pleased and proud that thanks to a coalition of computer scientists, historians and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) activists, we have this year a chance to mark and celebrate another contribution to Britain’s fight against the darkness of dictatorship: that of code-breaker Alan Turing.
Turing was a quite brilliant mathematician, most famous for his work on the German Enigma codes. It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of the Second World War could have been very different. He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war. The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely.
In 1952, he was convicted of “gross indecency” – in effect, tried for being gay. His sentence – and he was faced with the miserable choice of this or prison – was chemical castration by a series of injections of female hormones. He took his own life just two years later.
Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time, and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair, and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I am and we all are for what happened to him. Alan and so many thousands of other gay men who were convicted, as he was convicted, under homophobic laws, were treated terribly. Over the years, millions more lived in fear of conviction. I am proud that those days are gone and that in the past 12 years this Government has done so much to make life fairer and more equal for our LGBT community. This recognition of Alan’s status as one of Britain’s most famous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality, and long overdue.
But even more than that, Alan deserves recognition for this contribution to humankind. For those of us born after 1945, into a Europe which is united, democratic and at peace, it is hard to imagine that our continent was once the theatre of mankind’s darkest hour. It is difficult to believe that in living memory, people could become so consumed by hate – by anti-Semitism, by homophobia, by xenophobia and other murderous prejudices – that the gas chambers and crematoria became a piece of the European landscape as surely as the galleries and universities and concert halls which had marked out European civilisation for hundreds of years.
It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe’s history and not Europe’s present. So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work, I am very proud to say: we’re sorry. You deserved so much better.
Turing was found dead on 7 June 1954, two weeks before his 42nd birthday, after biting into a cyanide-laced apple. Wikipedia notes that
The logo of Apple Computer is often erroneously referred to as a tribute to Alan Turing, with the bite mark a reference to his method of suicide. Both the designer of the logo and the company deny that there is any homage to Turing in the design of the logo. In Series I, Episode 13 of the British television quiz show QI presenter Stephen Fry recounted a conversation had with Steve Jobs, saying that Jobs’ response was, “It isn’t true, but God, we wish it were.”
Turing’s work is the foundation of computer science and of research into artificial intelligence. Turing is responsible for the Turing Test (the CAPTCHA‘s big brother), the Turing Machine and (jointly with Alonzo Church) the Church-Turing thesis.
This simple machine can, given a long enough ticker tape, do anything your mind can do—and much more. It’s humbling for some to realise that the human mind is the biological equivalent of a read-write head, a binary internal state, a look-up table and a ticker tape. But that’s all anyone ever is—biological ticker tape. (In fact, we’re all world lines.)
This beautiful little boy died on Friday (15-6-12)
He was 3 years old.
“And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.
But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”
Mark10vs13,14
May the Lord bring you peace Ryan and Keri.
Joy, Roman, and I donated to his fund.
Though I dont know his Family, nor ever met this little guy, I am filled with grief for them.
There is something terribly wrong with this world that such unjust things happen to the innocent.
It is a Paradise Lost.
The explaination for such a tragic condition is found in the Bible.
Hope is also found therein, through faith.
In God I Trust.
This is great News.
Yet still I hang my head in shame.
I meant to send Dak some $$$ when he was inside, but never did.
Please Forgive me Dak.
Your an Inspiration. A Legend.
Tim Wikiriwhi.
In electing Justin Duckworth to be the new Bishop of Wellington, the Anglican Church has broken the stereotype portrayed in my favourite lightbulb joke. (And that’s a good thing!)
Q: How many Anglicans does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Change? Why change?
In the eyes of her family and friends, teenager Taiana Pilitati died a hero.
The 18-year-old from Wellington drowned in Samoa this week while desperately trying to save her 8-year-old sister Vaiola after they became caught by a large wave while swimming in a river.
“She’s a hero. She gave her life [up] for Vaiola,” her uncle Pati Umaga told the Weekend Herald. “Vaiola will grow up knowing that her sister saved her life.”
Her uncle, Pati Umaga, told the Weekend Herald Pilitati saved her eight-year-old sister Vaiola in the river.
“They said Tai was holding on to Vaiola when they were swept away – she was trying to help Vaiola. At the last minute she threw Vaiola towards Tino [an older sister], as she went under,” he said.
No Blog tribute can do justice to such an act of Humanity! I stand in awe. I bow my head.
From The mouth of The Lord Jesus Christ Himself… “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15vs13. In this case…” No Greater Love than this, that a woman lays down her life for her little sister…”
Eternal Vigilance places Taiana Pilitati on our Roll of Self-less Heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of Love.
