After spending a wonderful week with loving family in beautiful Whistler, B.C. I am ready to take up my blog again.
No matter who I have talked to about 2017, the wish is the same…world peace. But you know, that is only possible if we all work at peace within our own little corners of the world. It’s like the song says…let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me. Peace be with you as you become instrumental in contributing to everyone’s dearest wish…world peace.
Gobsmacked means (among other things) utterly astonished or astounded. It is apparently British slang and I heard it for the first time about a year ago and was astounded that I had never heard it before that; after all I have lived a long life and it doesn’t take too much to astonish me any more.
Having said that, I was gobsmacked by the harsh criticism that our Prime Minister took, mostly from our government’s opposition, for saying something positive about Fidel Castro after his death last Friday.
Sure, he, Castro, didn’t live up to the standards of most parts of our world but as always, there are two sides to every coin, argument, and people.
We are striving for a world of peace, but we are not going to achieve that when the battering rams of criticism are directed at the peace lovers of the world for choosing to articulate the good points of people that others love to hate. That does not lead to peace.
The Prime Minister took to defending his remarks, which, in my opinion, he should never have had to do. Why should you have to defend being a decent and upright human being?
Even though I like the word, I didn’t like being gobsmacked in that way.
Fidel Castro once said, “I don’t know what day I will die but I am not worried about it. I enjoy celestial tranquility.”
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18 NIV
What was going on in the world in 1995 that inspired the following poem? I’m not sure that I remember, but what is going on in Paris and other parts of the world at this time has inspired me to re-post it. It just seems fitting, somehow. Here then is:
THE VICTIM
People dead
before their time,
victims
of some heinous crime.
Callous killers,
world’s worst foes,
victims
of God only, knows.
Wars created
through sheer greed,
victims
of abnormal need.
Governments
whose rule a hoax,
victims
of the peoples’ votes.
Our planet Earth,
soon indigent,
victim
of our ignorance.
World, take heed!
The time has come
for remedy
lest you become
the victim.
©1995
I have discovered Frederick Buechner, author of Telling the Truth and many other inspiring books. Today I want to share one of my favorite quotes of his:
You can kiss your family and friends goodbye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.
This has profound meaning for me as some of my family live in other parts of the world. After every visit, when we kiss goodbye, they are still with me; in my heart, my mind, my stomach, because they are a large part of my world.
Those we love will always be a part of us no matter where they are.
I asked my ten-year-old grandson what he wanted for Christmas. His dimples deepened in thought, and his reply was, “Nana, I have no idea! I have everything now and don’t need anything more.” And then he looked me in the eye and said, “I’d really like world peace.”
I wanted to hug his little self and not let go, but we were in a hockey arena and ten-year-old hockey players have an image to keep up.
When a child of that age realizes how cruel our world is becoming, and wants world peace over toys and technology, how do we fulfill a Christmas wish like that?
Does Santa have world peace in his sack?
There is something happening on our planet that needs world wide prayer to overcome.
We are told not to fight evil with evil but to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).
The Power of Prayer manifested in global consciousness will go a long way in combating the forces of evil filtering into all corners of our world.
Shall we as a world wide community join forces in calling upon that Power to destroy the evil that seeks to destroy us?m
To those who know that Power as God, should we pray?
To those who don’t, for the sake of humanity, would you? Or not?
I first posted this blog August 1, 2014 and then in again in September of that year and now it needs to be posted again When are we ever going to learn? (I wrote the poem in 1995 and it is still relevant.)
Do you remember a post where I mentioned that a marriage counselor once told me I think too much? Well, you know, he may have been right after all. It seems to me that more of us should do more thinking. I don’t mean random, willy-nilly, helter-skelter thoughts, but deep down, deliberate thoughts that lead to changes in the way we see ourselves and others; the way we see our world and the way we live in it.
In 1995 I wrote this poem called The Victim. It’s about crimes and war and unsound government, and the entire world possibly becoming victim to all of these things. And then thinking about the poem in a new light, I realized that it’s not only crimes and wars and unsound government that hurt people, but the way we treat each other on a daily basis. The sad part of all of this is the take heed part. If we don’t take heed, nothing changes, and if we do?
THE VICTIM
People dead
before their time,
victims
of some heinous crime.
Callous killers,
world’s worst foes,
victims
of God only knows.
Wars created
through sheer greed,
victims
of abnormal need.
Governments
whose rule a hoax,
victims
of the peoples’ votes.
Our planet Earth,
soon indigent,
victim
of our ignorance.
World, take heed!
The time has come
for remedy
lest you become
the victim.
©1995
When I stop and think about it, I don’t mind being the victim of too much thought. Please join me; let’s help make the world a better place by looking at the way we think, and changing what needs to be changed. Only by recognizing that our part in global destruction may begin in our own thought patterns, the thoughts we hold about ourselves and each other, may we be a part of the solution.
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement…Romans 12:3
Who of us is immune to the effects of vandalism, terrorism, random acts of violence, and the life-snuffing behavior of some people who seem to have a complete disrespect for their fellow person?
We see it around the world; Russia, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, America, Canada…each country has its own lack of human values to deal with: guns, knives, machetes, bricks, sticks, stones, whatever…to prove what?
I even noticed it in our own recent Provincial elections, to a lesser degree but noticeable, indeed. I call it a new kind of party animal (if you will pardon the pun) where, instead of sticking to their own agendas, and offering voters some substantial food for thought, two of the three candidates went on a bashing spree against the third one; verbal yes, but still bashing. It reminded me of Genesis 50:20 when Joseph said to his brothers, who sold him into slavery, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good…”
It is all an assault on my senses, and I go on a writing spree. The G-20 Toronto Summit riots in 2010, and the Vancouver Stanley Cup riots in 2011, prompted the following:
WAKE UP! THERE IS A BETTER WAY!
To all who are asleep in vandalism and violent acts,
unconscious to the fact
that destroying the lives of other people and their property
is not a joke, hear this!
What gives you the right to take a rock
and with your might
smash the life another person lives?
Hear what I say:
“Wake up! There is a better way.”
Look at you!
What do you see?
That thoughtless, senseless person
is not who you’re meant to be!
Wear the shoes of the destroyed
rather than the destroyer.
See how it feels
to be ground
under the heels
of people
who are not aware
of their good side.
Again I say,
“Wake up! There is a better way!”
Find it! Change your wicked ways!
Humanity awaits the new you.
©2011
Can you imagine a world where we work together instead of against each other? Do you remember John Lennon’s Imagine? Imagine if we try.
My Precious Life 