I am a pacifist. Being raised in the Christian tradition, I personally look to the life of Christ as my guidepost for compassionate living. Yet there are models of peace throughout the globe, both inside religious traditions and within secular cultures.
Here's my very simplistic take on humanity. Every living human across the globe has a beating heart. Every heart can beat with love...or not. The answer to a violent tragedy like the one that happened yesterday, and that has occured many times before, is NOT more violence!
Violence begets more violence. Love begets love. I'm praying for our world...
"Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life."
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life."
until next blog post,
a very sincere prayer for peace and love
dorothy
