For the Children

In this shared holiday season of Christmas, the Hajj with Eid Al-Adha on December 30th, and Hanukah beginning yesterday December 15th, we should all be reflecting upon the guidelines our shared Abrahamic beliefs set out for us. First among these is to seek peace in all we do. Yet in that corner of the world known as Palestine, peace is not to be found. Since June of this year when an entire family was hit by Israeli missile fire on a beach in Gaza, hundreds of Palestinians have died both at the hands of the Israelis and recently at the hands of eachother in internecene strife. Our shared creator asks us all to protect the children, not only our own children, but ALL of the children since he is the father to all. This is not a political post, rather it is a request to pray for the children of Palestine who are suffering beyond our imagination. Wherever there is war, it is always the children who suffer the most. Both in Palestine and Iraq children are dying from not only bombs and gunfire, but from diseases which are not being treated and the rise in disease caused by depleted uranium weapons being used there. The details are not only gruesome, they are not necessary to know in order to take the time for prayer. So this holiday season for all of us, in all you say and do, remember the affects of your thoughts and actions on the children.

Matty Stepanek was a young thirteen year old boy when he died after years of battling the same disease his three other siblings died from. Before he died, his wish was to meet Jimmy Carter. Matty and Jimmy Carter met and together they formed a friendship before Matty died. This friendship is chronicled in the book that Mattie wrote before he died titled, "Just Peace" http://www.mattieonline.com/ Mattie wrote many poems in his short lifetime, the most noted is "For Our World"!

FOR OUR WORLD

We need to stop.
Just stop.
Stop for a moment.
Before anybody
Says or does anything
That may hurt anyone else.
We need to be silent.
Just silent.
Silent for a moment.
Before we forever lose
The blessing of songs
That grow in our hearts.
We need to notice.
Just notice.
Notice for a moment.
Before the future slips away
Into ashes and dust of humility.
Stop, be silent, and notice.
In so many ways, we are the same.
Our differences are unique treasures.
We have, we are, a mosaic of gifts
To nurture, to offer, to accept.
We need to be.
Just be.
Be for a moment.
Kind and gentle, innocent and trusting,
Like children and lambs,
Never judging or vengeful
Like the judging and vengeful.
And now, let us pray,
Differently, yet together,
Before there is no earth, no life,
No chance for peace.

September 12, 2001
© Matthew Joseph Thaddeus Stepanek
Used with permission from Hope Through Heartsongs, Hyperion, 2002

"Child of Peace"