In 2003 I sat overlooking the Western Wall in Jerusalem. It’s a remarkable place with palpable energy and consumed in ancient history, a history which imprisons many to a limited and violent past.
I had come to a meeting of a Peace Movement which aimed to unite people of all religions, all cultures and denominations. Every Friday morning this group sits over looking the western wall to simply demonstrate  ”being peaceful”. Anyone is welcome to join them.
As we sat, sometimes talking, sometimes playing music, sometimes being silent the sun light up the whole space. At one point one of the Founders of this organisation, an Israeli Jew spoke about the teneths of the organistion. He said “The first teneth we operate from is – that we don’t know. We don’t know the answers. You see most of the conflict in this world is brought about by everyone thinking they “know” and then fighting over it! So we decided we don’t know”
What a fantastic way of being, I thought. It’s a bit like the Buddhists when they talk about “beginners mind”. With such an attitude it opens us up to a new way of being, a way that is free from our limited past. It opens us up to creating a new world, a world where we truly love and care for each other no matter what our differences are.
Last week as we all know there was more violence in the Middle East, 9 people were killed on board a ship bringing aid to the Gaza strip. Another ship called the Rachel Corrie went from Ireland. It too never made it to the Gaza and its passengers were sent back to their respective countries.
Just after I was in Israel in 2003, I heard about Rachel Corrie (1979 -2003) and what happened to her. It was absolutely unbelievable to be honest. She was mowed down by an Israeli army bulldozer trying to stop a Palestinians house being destroyed (a pharmacist, accountant, their wives, and five young children).
Well as the teneth of the peace movement I visited in Isreal said “we don’t know”, I don’t know the answer to the conflict either but I do know like we all know, that violence creates more violence and imprisons future generations to a man made hell on earth. And no matter how strong any nation is with its weapons, I don’t believe there are any people in the world who want to live in fear. And no amount of weapons will ever get rid of fear, only love will get rid of fear!
We must learn to see that underneath our external definitions of what we are, we are the same. And we belong to one group and that group is called humanity! And again no matter how much weaponry we have we still have to learn to live with each other and to love one another. If we don’t we continue to imprison future generations to our limited and violent past. Let’s set them free instead!
As I thought about Rachel Corrie again in the last week I found a video of her when she was in 5th grade. Like many who have gone before, she too has a message worth listening too.
Also see
http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/
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Wow, what a bright light she was!
“It only takes a spark to get a fire going. And soon all those around will warm up to it’s glowing. That’s how it is with God’s love, once you’ve experienced it. It’s fresh like spring, you want to sing, you want to pass it on.”
–Church song–composer unknown
Thank you for sharing this video.
No doubt about it!