We mourn our loss:
Robin Williams, gifted actor and comedian, taken from us by the anguish of depression;
Michael Brown, age 18, in Ferguson, Missouri, shot dead on Aug 9, taken from us by a system in which police departments are increasingly militarized and African Americans are killed by white police officers at an average rate of almost twice a week in this country.
May our hearts be filled with compassion that lifts us from immobilizing hopelessness.
As thousands of immigrant children endure dangerous flight from Central America to the United States, in the hope of a better life; as armed conflicts and instability in Syria, the Ukraine, Pakistan, Iraq, and Gaza continue; as California suffers the worst drought in a century while the eastern United States experiences record rainfall and flooding; as countless millions are victims of human trafficking throughout the world; may our hearts be filled with compassion that lifts us from immobilizing hopelessness.
May our hearts be uplifted by the good in the world.
As Doctors Without Borders combats with selfless dedication the Ebola epidemic in West Africa; as Pope Francis makes a peace-making visit to South Korea; as the Fields Medal, the “Nobel Prize of mathematics”, goes to Dr. Maryam Mirzakhani from Tehran, Iran, the first woman to receive this award; as two of the leading voices in the Muslim world, Iyad Ameen Madani and Mehmet Gormez, speak up to denounce the persecution of Christians in Iraq at the hands of extremists proclaiming a caliphate under the name Islamic State; as panda triplets born in a zoo in China continue in good health; may our hearts be uplifted by the good in the world.
May we find the vision and sustain the courage to look at our world with clear and compassionate eyes. May we see what is and what could be – and become the change we yearn to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment