Saturday, May 24, 2008

SPIRITUAL INSPIRATION.
From Oprah's website, here's the answer given by a famed author and Holocaust survivor when asked:What Does Spirituality Mean to You?
Elie Wiesel, President of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity and author of Night (Hill and Wang)
"Is it at all possible to live without a spiritual quest? Of course it is—theoretically. Under the two totalitarian dictatorships that plagued the 20th century, Fascism and Communism, politics replaced spirituality. But lest we forget: Both collapsed. Can one be spiritual without religious faith? One can. All one needs is to be open to someone else's concerns, fears, and hopes, and to make him or her feel less alone, less abandoned. God alone is alone. Human beings are not, must not be. It is my caring for the otherness of the other that determines my humanity. And my spirituality."

How's that for something to ponder on a quiet Saturday afternoon? This Memorial Weekend, kids, amidst parades and barbeques, please remember that our duty, obligation, moral imperative, is to:
* remember those who've suffered,
*lessen or prevent any future suffering, and
*promote peace.
It's not at all contradictory to promote the concept of Peace when so many people who died serving in the military are being remembered. It is, in fact, only when we achieve a Peaceful, Peace-filled world, that we may ensure we lose no one else to war.
For ways on how to begin your own Peace process, check out:
http://www.paxchristi.org/

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"It's not at all contradictory to promote the concept of Peace when so many people who died serving in the military are being remembered."

Indeed it's not contradictory at all. Thought provoking post.

“Each has won a glorious grave -- not that sepulchre of earth wherein they lie, but the living tomb of everlasting remembrance wherein their glory is enshrined. For the whole earth is the sepulchre of heroes. Monuments may rise and tablets be set up to them in their own land, but on far-off shores there is an abiding memorial that no pen or chisel has traced; it is graven not on stone or brass, but on the living hearts of humanity. Take these men for your example. Like them, remember that prosperity can be only for the free, that freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.” Pericles (c. 495–429 BC)

“Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives!
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore, rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side, here in this country of ours.

You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries. Wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land, they have become our sons as wel”l. -- Mustafa Kemal Atatürk”

For The Fallen
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain. --Laurence Binyon

Anonymous said...

I adore Elie Wiesel. He is one of the most inspirational men in the world today. You have given me a lot to think about. I need to play a larger part in finding peace in this world. Have a great long weekend.

Kate Evans said...

Thank you for reminding us to memorialize peace.

I wrote a piece about peace in my blog last year:

http://beingandwriting.blogspot.com/2007/04/be-peace.html

Collin Kelley said...

Hope you had a good weekend and are feeling better.

Lisa Nanette Allender said...

Thank you, Anonymous, Selma, Kate Evans, and dear friend, Collin Kelley for your thoughtful commentary.
I'll be back bloggin' tonight(Saturday, May 31st)