Stephen De La Vega

Last week I wrote about injustice and anger that boils within. Today, I share a story about justification that was framed from injustice. It’s a story that many of us have heard in some fashion – a story that I believe we can all relate to if we will pause to hear it. It’s a story about a person who lived a life many of us would applaud, yet whom was killed by people of power. He fell victim to a system that may have been born of good intentions, but somehow ambled into a gait of arrogance and superiority. The perpetrators, in the form of an organized aristocracy and as individuals, didn’t like him messing with the good thing they had going. So, they plotted to slap a death penalty on a man who did no wrong. And they carried out their plot to the bitter end. May I tell you about this victim of injustice?   His name is Jesus. In many ways, we can say there are people in America and in other countries, throughout the generations, with the same story. Jesus was a victim of ...

Patrick Henry had the right idea when he stood before the Virginia Convention and said , “Give me liberty or give me death.” He wanted freedom, but not just freedom from British rule. He wanted freedom to be an American, freedom for his countrymen to write their own history. He knew that living under British rule was not really living at all. The same was true for Coco… [Note: This is Part 1 of a 3-part trilogy that includes some extraordinary but true animal stories and offers insight into some of our human tendencies, a.k.a., animal instincts. ] A true story about a dog named Coco In January 2013, 4-year-old Coco, a gray and white poodle, entered the doors of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals . His coat was so severely matted that he couldn’t lift his head. But even more shocking were 2 other problems: A 6-foot long wire was wrapped around his entire body His collar was embedded into his skin, including his name tag He was...