JOYFUL PIECE #42

Working for justice and peace courageously

Image by Der Barbar, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

The roaring news has certainly battered our sense of joy. Sometimes the light of hope seems to have gone into exile. At other times we are on a rollercoaster to a bitter despair scented with fear.

How can we regain that joyful effervescence?

Over the past six months the din of news from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has exacerbated the divides that threaten to shatter society. My acquaintances are hotly divided on the binary issues of right and wrong, who did what to whom when, and so forth.

Each of those communities in conflict have suffered tremendously for decades. Many have fallen dead and wounded physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. This past week a friend shared a TED link: A Palestinian and an Israeli, face to face*.

But for those on the brink of losing hope, the TED talk provides a lantern, a life ring. You will see a frank exchange by victims of the violence that choose the path of a common vision for peace and reconciliation in their inevitably linked future.

It is easy to talk about peace, security, and safety from a home far away from the conflict.

But when you hear that message from courageous Palestinians and Israelis who have borne the pain and the suffering, the message is validated extraordinarily.

"We can achieve all our dreams if we'll be brave enough to chase them." — Spoken by the slain mother of the Israeli in the Ted talk.

We can do no less than to support the brave souls working for justice and peace. If those who lost family members have the courage to ask the hard questions, we can do no less.

There is joy in taking action. There is joy in working for justice and peace.

Speak truth to power!

*You can also read the transcript provided with the talk.

20240419