It is possible to live in peace.
Mahatma Gandhi
We've rotated around to the life Thursday Thought and I was wondering about life and lives and worlds and my world, and I came across this quote. It felt so hopeful.
Many times I wish I had the answers to how to stop conflict; how to encourage understanding between nations, religions and sections of the community. I can feel overwhelmed at times by our inadequacies and our belligerence, and our apparent unwillingness to listen to and respect others.
But then I come across a quote like this which make me believe all over again. Peace starts in small ways, within me, in my relationships with others, with the messages I send out to the world, with the words I use, and the work I make.
I also think I need to believe that peace IS possible. It clearly is because at different points in history, those who argue now were once companionable; those who fought previously have been reconciled. I think maybe I am just hoping for all the on-again and off-again relationships could coincide at one point in time and we could all be on-again together! Wouldn't that just be amazing…
Mahatma Gandhi
We've rotated around to the life Thursday Thought and I was wondering about life and lives and worlds and my world, and I came across this quote. It felt so hopeful.
Many times I wish I had the answers to how to stop conflict; how to encourage understanding between nations, religions and sections of the community. I can feel overwhelmed at times by our inadequacies and our belligerence, and our apparent unwillingness to listen to and respect others.
But then I come across a quote like this which make me believe all over again. Peace starts in small ways, within me, in my relationships with others, with the messages I send out to the world, with the words I use, and the work I make.
I also think I need to believe that peace IS possible. It clearly is because at different points in history, those who argue now were once companionable; those who fought previously have been reconciled. I think maybe I am just hoping for all the on-again and off-again relationships could coincide at one point in time and we could all be on-again together! Wouldn't that just be amazing…
Some coloured peace prints...
Whenever I think of Gandhi, I think of a man who lived his life on a different plane to the rest of us. I doubt many could be so disciplined or focussed on their ideals. I'm sad to say, my immediate response to his words are 'yes, it is possible to live in peace... but not probable ' I only have to watch the daily bulletins from Syria to tell me that and I see no-one in international life to take on the mantle like he did for his country.
ReplyDeleteSo true Lesley - he was a remarkable man and gave such a clear focus to his ideals. I think the world is much more diffuse and opaque now and there are multiple places of worry, fear and concern, yet his simple words were the reminder I needed not to lose faith entirely. I get the possible, yet not probable thing, but if I don't hold onto some possibility I think I would despair beyond all reason...
DeleteMy dear Dad, who survived five years of WW2 with severe PTSD, still saw the best in people, still hoped for the best. He believed that if we dealt with each fellow human being we encountered with courtesy, commonsense and compassion, that would be the glue to hold us all together.
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