Composed at the outbreak of the 2006 Lebanon-Israel War, this piece laments a world ravaged by pervasive violence. According to the United Nations, eight major wars & more than two dozen "lesser conflicts" are today ongoing, with more than 30 countries heavily involved in the hostilities. Hundreds of thousands of the combatants are under the age of 18.
Explores the absence & loss experienced by combatants, their families & their societies, during war & long after.
Grieves the wartime dead, on all sides.
Acknowledges that even when life seems bleakest, change for the better may already be underway within & around us, as yet unseen. The human spirit is powerful leaven. (Dedicated to Carolyn Warmann)
What answer rests within the question;
what other world, within this?
What strength rises from weakness;
what security, from risk?
What friend lives in the stranger;
what stranger, in oneself?
What "there" is "everywhere";
what "someday" is "now?"
Refers to "love of the enemy," first mentioned in wisdom literature more than 4,000 years ago. It has been taught in some form by all the world's major religions & many of its philosophies.
Asks what might happen today if, instead of regularly resorting to violence or the forceful exercise of power to "resolve" problems, we were to imagine & implement more creative & just alternatives.
Celebrates those times in which we choose to embody a spirit of affirmation rather than negation; of compassion rather than hatred or indifference.
Dedicated to conscientious objectors, especially within the armed services. John F. Kennedy: "War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation & prestige that the warrior does today."
Comes from the poet Rilke: "I live my life in widening circles / that reach out across the world / I may never complete the last one / but I give myself to it." The challenge is to continually open ourselves to the world.
Refutes the popular notion that human lives "here" are more significant & precious than human lives "there."
Draws its title from Pete Seeger's song "Oh, Had I a Golden Thread," in which he describes his wish to weave into a "tapestry of rainbow design" the "innocence of children over all the earth / children of all earth." Every person on this planet is tied to every other, if only we would see it.
Recognizes how painstaking, how perpetual & how precious is the task of upholding the worth & dignity of every human being.
Anticipates the homecoming of survivors of war, as well as the "coming home" of us all, more fully each day, to ourselves & one another.
