Aloha My Friend,

So, it is 2012 already.

The other day Laine and I went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie.  Its only socially redeemable merit was that it was simple, mindless entertainment.  Of course, the premise of any Holmes story is the incredible power of his observation and the rich deductions that he makes out of the tiniest detail, a hair, a gesture, a missing object that he had no reason to know was there in the first place.

And it got me thinking about an organization that I have been sort of following, The Innocence Project.  Their mission statement – “The project is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.”

One of their findings is that of the 214 people who have had their convictions overturned, in 75% of those cases eyewitness testimony played a role in the conviction. As anyone involved in the court system can tell you, an eyewitness pointing a finger at a defendant is powerfully damning evidence to the jury.

But, if they are being honest with you, they will also tell you that it is almost totally unreliable, and understandably so considering the stress that the witness is under in the midst of a violent crime.

But, the witness isn’t deliberately lying, they honestly believe that who they are pointing  to is who committed the crime.

Yet they are wrong 75% of the time.

Our observations cannot always be trusted and our memory will often fail us.

In 1885 Dr. Ebbinghaus coined the term Forgetting Curve ( & Learning Curve). By his estimate and by following experiments,  our memories begin to fail us in the first 20 minutes after an event and that up to 90% of what we study is forgotten in 3 to 6 days.

If you go to Youtube and search for “Selective Attention” you will find a dozen or more intriguing  videos testing your powers of observation – If an ape moonwalked across the screen would you see it? I’ll bet that you don’t the first time, but it is there as plain as day.   - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0grANlx7y2E

So, is this blog about wrongful convictions and the death penalty? No.  But let me say here and now that I oppose the death penalty for a complicated confluence of reasons.

No, this is about how often we don’t see what is right in front of us.

The simple things escape our notice a thousand times each day.

It is not just the new blossom on a tree that we miss until it is in full bloom. I often overlook the smiles of strangers passing me in the aisles as I am shopping or good deeds that people do for me unasked. Kind words sometimes get lost in the conversation and sometimes I don’t recognize the courage that it takes to say, “I love you” or for someone to share their sorrows and fears with me.

So, my New Year’s Resolution is to make it my nature to see the beauty in the people whom I love and everybody I meet as a grand coincidence of life.

I will focus on how important they are to me and I won’t be distracted by the mundane and transitory aspects of their fiber.

I want to thank you for reading this because, although I may not know you, you are important to me.

And, I love you Laine.

Damn, this is going to be a good year.

Best Wishes & Peace

Elaine & Bill Grace
850/ 766-7175
aloha@balihi.us
www.balihi.us