Instruments of peace : Speaking kindly and forgiving others.
I’ve been trying to read about finding peace in today’s world. Whilst there are many articles and blogs about finding peace for one’s self and for one’s own situation, it is more difficult to read anything devoted to world peace. A wiser person than me would be able to explain all the factors involved in the current situations going on in the world, but even then, this does not give a solution. We see and listen to leaders and politicians, we watch reports on our screens of terrible things happening to innocent people before our very eyes. We watch, and yes, we are heartbroken, and deep down, we are worried for our own futures too, and especially those of our children.
This is an ‘if only’ time. If only those in power would look at the world differently. Imagine if there were no barriers, no separations, and if people lived side by side whatever their race or religion. If you viewed our world from afar, I think it would look magnificent. I don’t think one would see any walls or separations; astronauts report overwhelming emotion and feelings of identification with humankind and the planet as a whole when seeing the world from space. Step away and there is a bigger picture.
If only we could start to imagine a world without war. We tend to think of all the individual wars going on as separate entities, but that isn’t the way for our 21st century. What about war itself versus our survival? Perhaps our biggest task now is to learn to stand for peace.
We cope and carry on with our everyday lives, of course, we have to, but I wonder how parents cope in war-torn lands when all they long for, is for their children to have a normal life; to be able to go out and play without fear. Do the politicians think about them? When wars rage over so many unsolved conflicts, will the powers that be think of all the innocent children who aren’t going to be sleeping safely in their beds tonight? If only.
If you ask most ordinary people what they would like to achieve in life, the most common answer is to love and be loved, to be understood, and to have freedom. If only.
On our televisions, we have seen the anguish of people searching through the rubble for their loved ones and sorrow etched on people’s faces. We have seen mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers doubled up in pain and heartbreak. We have seen the unimaginable happen. And over here, we have had endless rain. The sky cries.
Notes From Dove Lane 