I have been invited to a memorial for a man who was lynched 107 years ago here in Florida. It is a vigil on the spot where he was murdered. That is the correct word for the act of taking someone's life without due process, or being part of a military action, ao a frightened policeman. Still, a most civilizing force, is the prohibition against murder. It is a tenant that is present in the legal code of any nation and any religion that I have encountered. When killings are carried out that are sanctioned by quasi- governments, or rebel groups, we often name it terrorism. Since this is St. Patrick's Day, the example I will call to attention is the Irish Republican Army, and its actions. Lynching is a particularly heinous version of mob justice, meant to leave the "strange Fruit" , a human body, dangling from the branch of a tree. Overwhelmingly often, it was the body of a black man, in the American South.

The human race, the great body to which we all belong, still struggles with the mere being of others who are different. So we make laws. These laws can assert the rights of the majority, protect the rights of the minority, or try to create a structure, a system where there is both freedom and safety for all. That last seems like it is nearly impossible. It is good that a large component of humanity is hope. "Murder justly bears the highest priority in social prevention and retaliation." says L. Ron Hubbard in The Way To Happiness, in the discussion of precept 8, "Do Not Murder." www.thewaytohappiness.com