Peace; dear, illusive, Peace. In order to have peace, we must fill the world’s shadows with light. That light is Education. The ways of war are darkness. Let us be light. Let us think enlightening thoughts. Let us emote the love of light. Let us believe in light. Darkness is nothing more than the absence of light. As day draws to night, it is the knowledge that the sun will rise again that keeps us through the darkened times.
What life has not felt chaos? What heart has not known the sorrow of angst? What person has not felt the illusive crowning of their own glory at the expense of other’s tarnishing? Our humanity fails us. Sometimes our faith in ourselves is more a projection of our disbelief in something more, something better, and something holy. In isolation have we sought Peace on earth. We have been more concerned with our own Peace at whatever expense. To know great Peace, we must know great chaos. How else could we compare and know Peace for what it is?
I have known personal, social, world chaos and touched the hem of patience as I was bent to it. As a small child, I had the sense that it was me against the world. I detached from those who could have lifted me, held me, until the chaos was over. I became an isolationist in my desires and wishes and pain. In my isolation was the error of not allowing others to learn from my mistakes and a barrier that held the truth of other’s lessons from me.
In a rural South American village, I carried a small child for an entire day as she curled herself against my expensive suit. The musky, earthy, smell of her comfort in those hours of clinging was to become a great lesson for me. The suit would clean. The child would forever remember the lady who held her, played with her, fed her, and sought solace for the sights that wounded her. Amidst the rife and strife of drug wars and poverty, there was a Madonna moment. I could not make much difference in her world but I could make a difference in her belief in others. I had come with an International Team to research a rural Education project that was empowering and I was to input western philosophy to enhance it. I left with a commitment to change the world one child at a time. I spent the rest of my career holding children, educating child, and searching for the key to peaceful survival in the midst of chaos.
While the world group-leaders pit themselves against each other, while one group of race searches for ways to exert more power over another, while one faith group fights for their mighty One Way, I am very aware of surrender. Surrender in disallowing others to have you join their chaos-making group. Surrender, by getting personally, socially, involved in the culture and beliefs of those who are called “Enemy”. Surrendering to the children, who desire comfort rather than chaos, is the key. By going into those “hated” lands and “hated” houses, and serving the children, is the key to knowing and understanding.
There is no age group as forgiving as children. There is no purer honesty than that which comes from the lips of a child. There is no sorrow like the sorrow of a child. There is no comfort like the comfort we give to the smallest, the weakest, the most dependent on us. Let us not bring to children the books with hidden agendas. Let us bring the light and education of love. Through the language of love to the littlest ones of all races, creeds and kinds, do we provide understanding and comfort and an opportunity for peace. This is the potential for Peace; the shared light.
In peace must we rise, in peace must we fall, but in peace we must believe, right to our bones. We must gather together, as adults, and provide living presence of Peace to those who will inherit what we have left behind. Let us hold each other through the darkened times and watch the horizon, together, for coming light that we began with simply being a light unto ourselves and expanded into a flame, one small heart at a time.
Tags: Journal Blog by Shewolf
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