I would like to share this poem that I read out in Meditation & Deep Rest. It was written by a 13 year old boy following the destruction of the Twin Towers on September 11th 2001. I was in hospital that day having my tonsils checked and I remember sitting in the waiting room with the TV on and watching the towers fall to the ground.
Since then, “terrorism” seems to have been thrust to the forefront of our cultural awareness as we are taught to fear more and trust less. Personally, I believe there is still a vast amount of goodness in this world and that, if we can only come to embrace the ‘dark’ half of our psyche in loving respect, that even that can be used for clarity, purpose and fruitful evolution. It is a matter of healthy relationship with these energies we deny and push aside, only to burst out later in explosive ways, internally, locally and globally….
This Poem is a moving piece from someone so young.
For Our World
We need to stop.
Just stop.
Stop for a moment…
Before anybody
Says or does anything
That may hurt anyone else.
We need to be silent.
Just silent.
Silent for a moment…
Before we forever lose
The blessing of songs
That grow in our hearts.
We need to notice.
Just notice.
Notice for a moment…
Before the future slips away
Into ashes and dust of humility.
Stop, be silent, and notice…
In so many ways, we are the same.
Our differences are unique treasures.
We have, we are, a mosaic of gifts
To nurture, to offer, to accept.
We need to be.
Just be.
Be for a moment…
Kind and gentle, innocent and trusting,
Like children and lambs,
Never judging or vengeful
Like the judging and vengeful.
And now, let us pray,
Differently, yet together,
Before there is no earth, no life,
No chance for peace.
by Mattie Stepanek
I’d love to say if we all made a commitment to lay down our weapons – inner and outer – (and recycle the materials used to make them for good somehow) then war would take a lot more effort to fight in the first place. If planes were only used for necessity, we’d have much further to travel to fight in the first place and less reason to. I have written something about this that I will share at some point, a pondering into how it would be if war could not be so instantaneously fought.
I’d love there to be a box we could tick on our tax forms to “opt out’ of our tax money fuelling the military and to ‘opt in’ on it going towards education, environment, the arts and sustainability.
I’d love humanity to stop looking for quick fixes and to fully commit to the time it can take for resolution to unfold, holding ourselves accountable for our own actions and cultivating a deep sense of care for ourselves, others, animals, nature and the world we live in.
I’m quite an idealist, I know. I wonder if there will come a time when we lay out weapons down and pump less money into the military.
Until then, I am, at least, committed to this work in myself. How can I recycle the materials of my own inner weapons? How can I stop supporting the industries that fuel war inside and out? How can I deepen my commitment to accountability, care and the time it can take to reach resolution?
It’s true, there are times when we need to unleash our fight! A victim of rape, for instance, has every right to unleash her fight and push, literally, for her life.
But I wonder, if the fight that we see in the world today, with regards to war & terrorism, is more about greed, abuse of power and control. It doesn’t seem to come from a place of necessity or even survival, rather it seems calculated and driven by and rooted in an unhealthy relationship with fear – which can escalate into control, abuse of power and greed, to name a few.
The actions of our government don’t seem to come from a place that serves or represents the voice of the people, but from a place that seems to represent our cultural shadow and the voice of those who will not look at it and who continue to try to keep it pushed down by means of annihilating it with bombs and guns that, time and time again, has been shown not to work…
Time for a rethink? For a commitment to the time it takes to reach into the root, to find alternative means that are driven by an entirely more healthy and integrated intention. In ourselves, and with those around us… It starts within.
With love,
Hayley xx
