Language of Love to the Least of These
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.
Carol.
This is a wonderful and irrefutable statement you have made!
The wounding of a child, in some cases, is the wounding of a world. No tyrant has ever emerged from a world of love but from a world of chaos,
a fostering of hate, which is harboured not only in the heart but inside the very cells composing the given being.
Children are purity itself. They are visionaries in their simplicity and straightforwardness, and they are innocent, also. Reared with love and compassion, our future is in safe and salient hands. Abused and neglected, can we in reality expect anything but the reproduction of the original models?
Like other great teachers before you, you offer us all hope in your observations, experiences lived, and magical ability to transcribe your thoughts onto a page.
What you have offered in this statement is the stuff of hope and of promise. And the world, as we know it, needs to be made privy to your thoughts, which encompass all, the bigger picture being the one in need of addressing in this day and age.
Thank you so much for taking the time, for giving us all such a gift, and the foremost gift of all, without reservation, is the Spirit of You!
Richard
Ah, yes - to fill the world’s shadows with light…
I think at times we expect that light to be a brilliant glare, when all it need be is a glimmer. Each little bit of light counts, and its effect is cumulative. To bring light to the life of a child, to touch that life so that the child remembers kindness and nurturing, is to bring that glimmer to the world.
And we surely cannot be part or the chaos-makers. We have to learn to recognize them and steer clear, for chaos-making amount to bringing more darkness. Children are indeed wise - they know the importance of simple comforts - and they know at a gut level that a moment of comfort and joy is worth more than nay expensive suit of clothing. We must not teach them that the suit is more valuable; we must bring them those moments of comfort and light.
And I conclude with something I wrote the other day:
I Had A Dream
I had a dream where people from all lands
stood side by side in one enormous circle, with
their arms in amity entwined. The guns of war
were silent and the gentle doves cooed softly
from the treetops, as a rainbow bright appeared
above us in prismatic hues. And in that circle
not a single woman, man, or innocent child
was weak from hunger’s pangs nor weeping mournfully
for loss of loved ones on a bloody battlefield.
In that dream the crops sprang from the soil
with grains abundant, and the burgeoning vines
provided fruit, while in the pastures grazed
sufficient livestock to provide for all. And it
was clearly understood that humankind
would share as equals in this blessed bounty.
We knew with certainty that we respectfully must tread
on this, our earth, acknowledging that the land
and seas and skies are but our short and sacred lease.
I had a dream of universal peace and love
and freedom from the pain of prejudice and hate.
And on awakening I knew that vision fair
could one day be reality if we but listened to the doves
and let the golden promise of the rainbow
supersede our foolish ventures into war.
Carol Knepper
Both of you are so near and dear to me. Reading your comments has my imagination springbaording. I can do little but I can do something. I have wanted to go read to our elders in senior citizen’s homes and nursing care facilities. They are our story keepers and sometimes so forgotten by busy families. i ahve time and I can read. I have been busy with my own life instead of getting out there and doing something that I can. I must take time for others as well.
Thank you, again, for your friendship and inspiration.
Carol.
“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.”
With these amazing words, you elaborate, with such lucidity, my own beliefs. As a child, I also became an isolationist, or a reclusive personality. It became quite obvious, early on, that to display any form of emotion, affection or attachment would only beg heartbreak, even abuse. I turned inward, instead of outward. There was no comfort to be found outside of my own thoughts. I’ve been physically on my own since I was nearly 16; it was mandatory for me to be independent if I wanted to survive. I found that I did, indeed, want to live - that I believed there was supposed to be more to life - and love - than pain. I also came to understand that, while I could do little to actually change the world, I COULD change my own little corner of it. Then - epiphany - if EVERYONE did that, the whole world would then change, little by little. Peace and serenity are so dear to me; I know what it took for me to ever find it. You, my dear Sister of the Sacred Spirit, has contributed so much to my own sense of peace. We touch people’s lives more than we ever realize - sometimes, we never even know we have. You’ve seen it on the poetry site, just as I have, Carol. More importantly, you’ve seen it firsthand - in the eyes of a child. Beautifully penned, Lady. I can only echo Richard and Carol - thank you for the gift of your friendship and inspiration. I wish more people could taste your wisdom and honor.
Wanda
Such kind friends have I. I have met richard and Carol in the REAL, and have uet to meet you, dear friend. One day, I hope to do just that.
Yes, we do not know how, or whom, we touch. There was a problem on this site a week or so ago; those who choose to read the negtive and attack me simply did no more than make me stronger. You see, such as you and I are not simply befriended by the best betimes. Sometimes we have to visit shadowy places in order to carry our own lights again.
We can change the world. Once I thought o be a whipping post kept the marauders off others. Now I know, the mauraders need more help than their victims.
My mantra: I lvoe you, I forgive you, I loveyou…is all I can do for them.
As I move into my elderhood, I know the peace of letting things fall by the wayside, the pain of having some do so, and the love that comes in spite of it.
Love you, girlfriend.