Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Love Thy Neighbor in 2014 & Beyond


Thank you Lord for the blessings in the past year,
Help us to pay attention to you and may we hear,

May we hear your voice and obey your command,
Of loving our neighbors as ourselves, is your loving demand

What does it mean to love my neighbor as myself?
Empathy for others just like one has for oneself. 

And who is my neighbor after all?
Is it someone who looks like me or  it includes one and all?

She is the beggar on the street, he is drunkard in the bar,
Some we know, some are strangers, some close and some afar... 

Lord, help us to be content in what you gave,
And to share with our neighbor from what we have.

Without truly loving our neighbor, there will never be peace,
Without willingness to share, conflicts will never cease. 

Let this new year be of love and sharing,
Let your command on our lives have a lasting bearing. 

What a shame that we turned our neighbors into our foes,
In this new year, your divine love on our relationships you impose.

Lord, as you know, this world needs peace and reconciliation, 
Bless us with the miracle of love, let the human race experience elation!

We human beings give pain to our fellow humans,
To love one another, give us more reasons.

Grant us grace to share and care,
Forgive our inequities and helps us to be fair.

There is a reason for who we have as our neighbor,
Yes, there might be differences but similarities are greater.

Lord, help each one of us to remember, 
That my neighbor and I have the same creator.

Your 'greatest command', let us adhere. 
Let us love our neighbors in this new year!

Happy New Year and lots of love, my neighbors around the world!!!

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Which side do you want to be?



You say the little efforts that I make
will do no good; they will never prevail to tip the hovering scale where Justice hangs in the balance. I don’t think I ever thought they would. 

But I am prejudiced beyond debate in favor of my right to choose which side shall feel the stubborn ounces of my weight.

- Bonaro Overstreet

Monday, December 9, 2013

Peace Workout

Peace is a beautiful yet pretty complex concept. Some say it is a state of mind, others say it is a path and not a destination. Whatever it is, most want to experience it. This blog has tried to address peace at various levels, individual level, interpersonal level and at global level. All levels are complex and different people have different perspectives. Many people believe that global peace begins at individual level.

Peace Calls: http://anjana-prewitt.blogspot.com/2012/06/levels-of-peace.html

Mahatma Gandhi said, "BE the CHANGE you want to see in the world". So, if I want this world to be peaceful, I must learn to be peaceful first. The principal is simple but operationalizing it is tricky. I have been working on it for years and yet there are times when I give in and loose my peace of mind or in other words derail from the peaceful path by getting into an unnecessary argument. Initially, the derailment would be for longer periods, however, now I am able to get back to track quicker.

Those of us who would like our world to be peaceful, we must learn to be peaceful first. I feel that being peaceful comes from training ourselves. We must practice to look at the bigger picture and the greater good. It doesn't help to just focus on 'what's in it for me here and now' but it is important to reflect on how this situation is benefitting most, if not all, around me. What is the long term benefit of this change, action or situation?

The other thing that may help is to separate the 'issue' from the 'person'. Fight the issue not the person. Always remember every person possesses good and evil including you and I. We may have disagreements with people in certain areas or issues. As you are paying attention to the disagreements, always, always, look at what are the commonalities in terms of needs and vision for future and build on that. If we are human beings, there are always shared ideas, believes and aspirations, it is about searching for them.

There are times where the commonalities may not be enough to keep two people or groups of people together and the greater good may be that people mind their own business without harming each other. In a situation like that, gently find your own path and continue to move forward in a peaceful way.

Whatever the case is, peace is found in kindness, forgiveness and most importantly in training oneself in  maintaining the right perspective. This life is not perfect and never will be. The good news is that peace can be found in the most imperfect circumstances provided we have trained ourselves to keep the right perspective.

Photo from Google
Trust me, my friends, peace is right here. Close your eyes, deep breath, look at the bigger picture, embrace hope, select three positive actions, pursue them and be determined to keep the right perspective. Claim peace and hold it tight! :-) 

I am not OK

I am writing this on behalf of thousands of people, particularly the humanitarian workers around the world, who are not perfectly ok. Many o...