I would like to dedicate this page to all the oppressed and displaced people of the world. May your burdens be lifted and your future be bright.

A PRAYER FOR PEACE

Let us pray that strength and courage abundant be given to all
who work for a world of reason and understanding;
That the good that lies in every man's heart may,
day by day, be magnified;
That men will come to see more clearly not that which divides them,
but that which unites them;
That each hour may bring us closer to a final victory, not of nation over nation,
but of man over his own errors and weaknesses;
That the true spirit of mankind 
it's joy, it's beauty, and its hope, may live among us;
That the blessings of peace be ours 
The peace to build and grow, to live in harmony and empithy with others,
and to plan for the future with confidence.

It has always been a dream of mine to wake up one morning and find no news of war. The front page of the newspaper would contain only politics or news of a new park or building being built. TV commentators would all have happy smiling faces and the topics of conversation would all be up beat and optimistic.
I know that it is a dream. I know as long as there is greed and hatred in the world there will be intolerance and war. I also know that I cannot change that. Still, I hope that somehow, perhaps one person at a time, we will all come to realize that we are all God’s children and that without him, none of us could draw a breath to greet the new day. I celebrate the diversity of mankind and pray we all can, one day, experience the true meaning of brotherhood.

THE GOLDEN RULE


All Things whatsovever ye would that men should do to you,
do ye even so to them:
for this is the law and the prophets.
Christian (Matthew 7:12)

Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.
Buddhist (Udama-Varga 5:18)

Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain
and your neighbor's loss as your own loss.
Taoist (Tai Shang Kan Ying Pien)

What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man.
That is the entire law; all the rest is commentary.
Jewish (Talmud, Shabbat 31a)

Surely it is the maxim of lovingkindness: 
Do not unto others what you would not have done unto you.
Confuscian (Analects 15:23)

No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother
that which he desires for himself.
Islamic (Sunnah)

I wish to mention here, that through these rites a three-fold peace was established. The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its Powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real Peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.~Black Elk~

It seems a long time ago that I met a lady by the name of Houng. She told me of the things she saw before she left on one of the last evacuations from Viet Nam. I thought, "Well, it will soon be over now. Things will be back to normal soon!" Unfortunately, even though things have gotten somewhat better for the people in her country, the story is being repeated over and over again. In Bosnia, Zaire, Ireland, and many other areas of the world, things aren't much different. Sadly, I have lost track of Houng and her family, but I would like to dedicate the following poem to her... just as she inspired me to write it.

AMERICA GETS OUT

I remember the horror I felt
when the news hit my ears
like a creeping slime of inhumanity.
Thinking of all those doll children
with liquid black eyes
and boney hands clutching bowls of rice.
I remember the shame I felt
knowing I was one of those Americans
who looked the other way
at a new car,
a vacation trip,
and new curtains for the living room
while children in Viet Nam were
being torn apart by shrapnel,
burned by napalm,
and orphaned by a war
too old for most to remember the beginning of.

But I remember most
coming to know there was no other way.
"When you give Viet Nam man a gun,"
my friend Houng told me,
"and tell him to fight...
he go in jungle,
he see enemy,
he throw gun down, 
and run away."

In her village, a woman hangs from the rafters
of her paper house
because she can no longer bear to see
her children starving.
Children fathered by a spineless "man"
who ran in fear
Fear
of being "sent to G.I."
and having to give up
games of black jack
beautiful clothes
and young girls to smile at him.

It is difficult to conceive of a nation
where a girl child is a blessing
someone to take care of brothers and sisters
and parents in their old age
and a boy child is "much bad luck",
a burden to bear,
a parasite on the family and the nation.

A nation such as this, a nation of child men
is difficult
to defend.


  ~September 1975





 





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