It is extremely sad how the false assumption that material possessions will fill the emptiness within us drives millions of honest people to make horrific choices. We lie to ourselves and others, and we work so hard to amass things that society has convinced us that, once we have them, we will finally be happy. We lose focus on what really matters and what truly fills the emptiness within us. We sacrifice our health and abandon our loved ones only to spend all the wealth we have to either recoup our health or save our loved ones from addictions they endure due to our abandonment.

"There is a special trap for every holder of power, whether the director of a company, the head of a state or the ruler of a dictatorship. His favor is so desirable to his subordinates that they will sue for it by every means possible. Servility becomes endemic among the entourage, who compete among themselves in their show of devotion. This in turn exercises a sway upon the ruler, who becomes corrupted in his turn.  The key to the quality of the man in power is how he reacts to this situation. I have observed a number of industrialist and military men who knew how to fend off this danger. Hitler himself put up no visible resistance to the evolution of a court."

I remember my father always telling me: son, in life, you will never make people who don't like you because of the color of your skin, like you. But, son, you make sure that you get an education, work as hard as you have to, and be a man of integrity. They might not like you, but they will have to respect you. He would stress, son an uneducated person is a controllable person. It would take many years before I could understand those words.

¿Mi pregunta es si hoy en día la palabra integridad tiene algún significado os si la palabra significa algo para alguien? ¿Importa incluso que estemos de acuerdo cuando las personas nos miran directamente, colocan sus manos sobre la Biblia y juran ser honestos y veraces y se dan la vuelta y luego nos dicen que no importa lo que hayan jurado? ¿Hacen lo que sienten que necesitan hacer?

En Angola, encontré personas que iban a morir en ese lugar pero que estaban llenas de alegría y sabían el significado de sus vidas. Descubrí que tenían una paz que no encontré entre muchos en el mundo libre. Estos hombres estaban en prisión físicamente, pero libres en espíritu. Descubrí que los prisioneros reales son aquellos que están espiritual y físicamente en cautiverio, no tras las rejas de una prisión, sino en la sociedad. Unos se imaginaria que los presos en Angola se están suicidando en grandes cantidades, pero no es así. Se mueren, pero se mueren por irse a casa.

I also propose that legalizing drugs is not the solution. Legalization does nothing but creates a bigger black market. Statistics show that almost 60% of drug overdoses are the abuse of legal prescription medication.