Ava Lowry is 16 years old and chipping away at the message that it's time to see what we're really doing out there with this "war"...after you watch the vid, i encourage you to link to her site and read about her efforts for peace and about her other films.
War is complicated...i believe when we use violence, the only thing we will achieve is more violence, more hatred. Gandhi said: "I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent."
(Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 - 1948) )
It's a tough issue and we discuss it from time to time in the classroom and it is evident that as a culture, we have a hard time seeing other ways to deal with "mass murderers" like Hitler...Osama bin Laden... I don't have any answers. That's why I'm a storyteller, a teacher and not a politician. As a teacher, I only have questions. And more questions. Stories. And more stories. While the questions and the stories seem to be quite painful in this regard, the enduring element to the human spirit that we see there time and again is HOPE. Hope that we can go beyond the impulse of violence to something more enduring, more healing, more eternal. We can learn to love.
While I'm pontificating this morning, let me recommend
www.eliewieselfoundation.org . There is a category link for essays on ethical issues in the world today. College age students submit these essays and the top four winning essays can be found here and they are profoundly thought-provoking, well-written, moving pieces.
Shabbat Shalom
Pax Pacis
Namaste
Peace
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