A summation, and a prayer, for next Tuesday

From a Hollywood courtroom, but somehow appropriate in the days leading to Election Day.

Frank Galvin:  Well…you know, so much of the time, we’re just lost.  We say,  “Please, God, tell us what is right.  Tell us what is true.”  I mean, there is no justice.  The rich win, the poor are powerless.  We become…tired of hearing people lie.  And after a time, we become dead.  We think of ourselves…as victims.  And we become victims.  We become - we become weak.  We doubt ourselves.  We doubt our beliefs.  We doubt our institutions.  And we doubt the law.  But today, you are the law.  You are the law.  Not some book, not the lawyers, not a marble statue, or the trappings of the court.  You see, those are just symbols of our desire…to be just.  They are - they are, in fact, a prayer.  A fervent and a frightened prayer. 

In my religion…they say, “Act as if ye had faith.  Faith will be given to you.”  If - if we are to have faith in justice, we need only to believe in ourselves…and act with justice. 

I believe there is justice in our hearts.

- The Verdict

(Thanks to Debra J. Campbell’s dissertation, Chapter Six, for the movie quote.)