Melissa Ethridge and Salman Ahmad "Ring the Bells of Peace"

This past Saturday night at the MPAC convention in Long Beach, Melissa Ethridge and Salman Ahmad opened the evening program with the following song. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend, but a dear friend who did told me about this song which received a standing ovation.

Melissa and Salman met at last years Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony in Oslo. Melissa then invited Salman to her home in Los Angeles where they collaborated on "Ring the Bells" In the following interview Salman states:

Melissa and I became friends and musical admirers and in January, this year, she invited me to her home to spend a couple of days in Los Angeles where we talked about many things. Among them, Love and Unity and how they are universal themes running from Rumi to the Beatles. In both East and West its poetry and music which unites humanity rather than politics which aims to divide and demonize 'the other'. Melissa and I also talked about the children of Abraham: Jesus, Moses and Muhammad and their common spirit of brotherhood and sacrifice. We sat with acoustic guitars and out of that intense talking and jamming came "Ring the Bells."

I want to share it with my readers because it is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. It's a song about co-existence, it's a message that we are all one............

May all my Jewish friends have a blessed Hanukah, my Christian friends, a blessed Christmas, and my Muslim friends and family, a belated Happiest Eid, joy and peace in the New Year.

Ring the bells for PEACE.




Whose God is God? Whose light is light?
Whose law is wrong? Whose might is right?
Here we are on the edge, the edge of change.
I believe in peace, my only wish. I believe that we can co-exist;
Let's go further now than we've ever gone before and

Ring the bells, ring the bells of change
Ring the bells, every boy and every girl
Ring the bells, ring the bells of peace all over the world

We've all been called to wake from sleep,
To feel our power to create the dreams,
To step out from the dark past our fathers? fear.

Ring the bells?

Here we stand in unity making one choice to be free.
Every truth blends into one as we believe it shall be done.
Here we stand as soldiers now, turning our swords into plows;
There is not a nobler climb, achieving peace in our own time.

I know peace begins with me, with all I feel and with all I see,
And I know it's no easy task removing our own fearful masks;
But I have seen us rise and fall, stand on the moon, tear down the wall
And I know we can do it all, can do it well.
Show me the bells!

Ring the bells? Ring the bells? Ring the bells?

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