Do we 'just' remember?

Last year we were celebrating 100 years since the end of WW1,"the war to end all wars” with church bells ringing out across our communities, Since then has anything really changed?

The Middle East, as well as many other places on this globe, still reverberate with the sounds of of gunfire and of bombs detonating, as we gather again: the young and the old. There is sitll talk of the sacrifice made by many men & women, not just in World War 1 but in the many wars and conflicts since that time: all those who gave their lives in service to their country, whatever country that might be. And so we remembered….

Achieving a lasting peace has become more and more important as the weapons of war have gotten more deadly, until we now have the capacity to end all human life on this globe. What about the millions of people whose lives have been turned upside down by this latest violence? Do we remember those who have been killed either by enemy or ‘friendly fire’ or have lost their lives trying to escape from the war zone? War is no longer fought on the battle field between opposing armies wait was 100 years ago. Rather it is fought in the streets of the cities, towns and villages where the houses are filled with people who just want to see their families grow up free to work, to live, to love, and to worship their God.’

“Today it is more and more evident that the time has come for humanity to admit that it has outgrown war, and to move beyond war as a way of settling differences.” (Matthew Fox in Original Blessing, 1983) A little over a century ago, we outlawed slavery. Is it now time to outlaw war, as Fox suggested in this book 35 years ago? He then goes on to quote Robert Henri who in 1960 said; "It is disorder in the mind of man that produces chaos of the kind that brings about war. . . Any right understanding of the proper relation of man to man and man to the universe would make war impossible.”

MAKING OR BREAKING

We inherit the world,

the whole of history,

our place on earth,

our place in time,

our fortune, good or bad,

pure chance.

Now,

in one picture,

we see our entire planet:

one world,

one race,

one future,

bound together

for the first time.

Ours

for the breaking

or making.

Comments

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