We stand at a critical moment in US history, a time when division is strong between the vaxxers and anti-vaxxers; between the Democrats and Republicans; between those who work toward the healing of the planet and those who work against it; between kindness and compassion or fear and anger; between love and acceptance of all or racism.
Earth is increasingly interdependent and fragile. With global warming, the pandemic, and world commerce, the future holds both great peril and great promise. Regardless of what our private world holds, we must recognize we are one with a common destiny. We must celebrate the great diversity of cultures and join together and become a sustainable global Earth with respect for one another and the planet. We must work toward universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.
We each have a responsibility as peacemakers, within our local communities, our countries, and our world to make the world better. Let us make not only our present better for our lives and the good of all but let us remember we are all part of the larger living world and work to create peace for all and for our planet.
What you can do today for peacemaking in your community and in the world:
- Make one change in your life that moves you toward love and away from fear. One small change vibrates greater energy as it moves through the world and creates bigger changes. One small change can change your entire life and help to change the world.
- Find a cause and act. Get involved on a local, national, and/or international level.
- Volunteer at a soup kitchen to help heal hunger.
- Write a letter to government officials asking for sensible gun control checks and balances.
- Comfort someone at a local battered women’s shelter.
- Clean out your closets and pass along clothes to a local shelter.
- Talk to young people about bullying and help them find alternative ways of dealing with anger.
- Use social media to promote love instead of your fears and angers.
- Be part of animal rescue transport to help once homeless and abused animals move to their good forever homes.
- Concentrate on what’s right in the world, not on what’s wrong.
- Be grateful and stay in gratitude.
- As Dostoyevsky once said, “Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing more difficult than understanding him.” Listen to the other person. You may not agree, but you can listen with kindness.
The list is endless. Change begins within and with each one of us. Make the change today to love, not fear and heal your life and help heal our world.