Today I heard that 100 persons were killed in Palestine yesterday, many of them ordinary citizens. I heard on the radio today how disabled military men and women, injured in battle, must prove on their own before they are discharged that they are disabled and deserve benefits. They are assumed not entitled until they prove otherwise. I see grown men and women in a University deny or ignore that they are supporting an unjust war and teaching values that contradict their own values. I was in contact with a woman today who seeks to help the disabled but is suffering financially at the hands of government bureaucrats. I was reminded today not to be bitter even when I am ridiculed and ignored and to love my enemies even when they are my friends. I saw young men today afraid, with heads spinning with what might be. I saw today in myself anger that is not justified and is hurtful to others and myself. I am confused and no longer know the difference between the food plants and the weeds. I am tired and just want to cry but cannot. My posting tonight is the “Cry of the Worm.”
Deep down in the dark pockets of the earth
A worm cries out,
My friends, why do you kill each other in Gaza, Darfur, Iraq, Lebanon and the streets of Milwaukee?
Do you not know that the taking of life by violence never produces anything but more violence?
Look at us, the millions of worms of the earth.
We do not kill each other so we have survived millions of years on an earth,
Where so many creatures have died off.
My friends look at a garden.
Yes the seed dies but not by violence,
But by being broadcast in rich soil,
Soils we worm digest and cast off.
There is no violence in growth.
If you need to struggle and wage war to survive,
Wage war against poverty, the proliferation of guns and weapons of destruction.
Be united in your diversity, not divided in your unity.
Pray, fast and work for peace and there will be peace.
Stop training your young to be soldiers of violence but train them to be soldiers of peace.
Treat your veterans of the military, the poor, sick and those left aside
With respect and dignity.
Learn from them and from your children
That violence begets only violence
And Peace is made with peace.
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