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Today's
Meditation:
We do spend a lot of money on war. We spend a
lot of time and effort and money and energy on creating
things that will harm our fellow human beings because
we're afraid that if we don't do so, we'll be vulnerable
to attack and conquest, that we'll lose our chosen way of
life and be forced to live the ways that other people want
to force us to live. What would happen, I
wonder, if we were to spend just as much money and
time and effort pursuing peace?
What would happen if our peace budget were as much as our
defense budget? What could we accomplish in this
world as individuals if we were to focus on creating peace
in our own lives, and in our own relationships, as much as
we focus on making money and doing things that we think
others want us to do? The finest human qualities to
which John refers, I believe, are things like dedication,
perseverance, focus on accomplishment, hard work, courage,
and sacrifice. Do we put these things into practice
each day in our relationships and in our communities?
There's something about hardship that seems to stimulate
our survival instincts. And once those are
stimulated, we seem to be able to reach inside and tap
into reserves of qualities that are among the best we
have. It's unfortunate that we so often wait until
adversity strikes to reach inside and find those
strengths, for they're strengths that could contribute
much to the spread of things like peace and community and
compassion if we were to apply them to those things.
I can imagine some of the qualities that I might find
inside myself in times of great turmoil and
struggle. The trick is to tap into them during other
times so that I might use them in ways that will
contribute positive things to this world of ours while I'm
here.
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Questions to
consider:
Why do so many people not tap into their finest
qualities every day in order to work towards lasting
peace?
What does "lasting peace" mean to you? Is
it just a pipe dream, or is it a possibility?
Who is responsible for lasting peace in our world?
Is it just the leaders, or are more of us actually
responsible for contributing to it? |
